All News
Specialty Society Guidelines Must Evolve to Improve
The current JAMA issue examines the process and potential flaws of society clinical practice guidelines -a timely commentary as we await the 2015 ACR RA treatment guidelines first presented at the 2014 ACR meeting in Boston and slated for upcoming publication in Arthritis & Rheumatology
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Heel Pain, Uveitis, TB, Vitamin D, Hidradenitis: July 2015 top social media news
In July 2015, RheumNow published 73 tweets about impactful news, research and teaching points that I feel will have an impact on the rheumatology community. We had a reach (impressions) of 49,900, 63 mentions, and 1277 visits to RheumNow.com to check out what we publish.
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AstraZeneca Pushes Forward on Brodalumab Development
Despite Amgen's withdrawal as a co-developer of brodalumab, the anti-IL17A monoclonal antibody, AstraZeneca has announced it will push its plan to develop the drug. Brodalumab is currently in phase III trials for use in psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.
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Cymbalta Lawsuit Alleges Downplay of Withdrawal Symptoms
An estimated 250 people have filed lawsuits against Lilly claiming the company failed to warn users of Cymbalta that they may suffer withdrawal symptoms if the drug was stopped abruptly, including suicidal thoughts and electric shock-like sensations.
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Safety Reports in the News
Can We Do Better than FAERS? Brian Overstreet (of Adverseevents.com) has written on MedPageToday.com about the current state of adverse event reporting.
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Not All Placebos are Equal: The Needle is Mightier than the Pill
Placebos are necessary to determine the “true effect” of any medical intervention. As such, they have become the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine, randomized controlled clinical trials and novel drug development.
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Outcry Over the Cost of Drugs
Several news articles have addressed the rising concern by patients and physicians over the cost of newer drugs. This issue comes to a head as more than 100 oncologists from top cancer hospitals around the U.S.
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DSB: Drug Shortages July 2015
Several drugs continue to be in short supply, posing significant problems for patients. Foremost on this list is leflunomide (Arava) which is backordered for both 10 mg and 20 mg tablets.
Leflunomide Shortage
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IRB Conflicts of Interest Persist
Committees at academic institutions that make decisions on research and clinical trials may be conflicted, as nearly one-third of IRB members have some ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
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21st Century Cures Act Passes in the House
On Friday, July 10th, the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly to streamline the approval process of prescription drugs and medical devices by the FDA.
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FDA Strengthens MI and CVA Risks Associated with NSAIDs
FDA announced yesterday they would strengthen warnings stating that non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs increase the chance of a heart attack or stroke. This applies to both prescription and OTC NSAIDs.
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Brodalumab Backlash
On May 26, RheumNow.com reported that Amgen and Astra-Zenica suspended drug development for the IL-17 inhibitor brodalumab.
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Get Ready for ICD-10
With three months until the switch from ICD-9 to ICD-10 coding, CMS and the AMA have announced efforts to continue to help physicians get ready ahead of the October 1 deadline.
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Rheumatology Leads the List in Drug Company Engagements
Based on recently released data, ProPublica.org has compiled a list of pharmaceutical payments made to 606,000 US physicians in the last year. Their analysis turned up big differences between the different specialties.
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ACP Backs Supreme Court Decision on Obamacare
ACP has endorsed the Supreme Court ruling that the premium subsidies created by the Affordable Care Act, essential to making coverage affordable to millions, will continue to be available in states where the federal government manages their health insurance marketplaces.
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Drug Shortages - June 2015
RheumNow is committed to reporting safety issues in our monthly Drug Safety Bulletins. Each month we will update you with reports of new, ongoing and resolved Drug Shortages that will affect the practicing rheumatologist.
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Australia Allows Pharmacy Substitution with Biosimilars Without Notice
Biosimilars are copies of the biologic medicines used to treat inflammatory and immunologic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer- potentially at lower costs.
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Common HIPAA Mistakes in Practice
This review details nine of the most common compliance missteps physicians are making regarding protected health information (PHI). These errors may result in legal trouble, but are avoidable. These include:
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FDA News; Undeclared Dexamethasone Containing OTC Products
The FDA has issued public warnings that 4 over-the-counter products promoted for pain relief contain potentially harmful, undeclared dexamethasone. The supplements are Asihuri Plus Forte, Ginseng She Lian Wan, Jianbu Huqian Wan, and Saurean Fong Sep Lin.
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Medicare D and Costly Biologics
25% of Medicare beneficiaries with rheumatoid arthritis use high-cost biologics. Yazdany and coworkers have analyzed a national cohort of beneficiaries and compared Medicare part D plans.
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