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Generic Price Fixing Alleged by State Prosecutors
The NY Times and 60 Minutes have reported that Connecticut, along with 43 other states, filed a mega-lawsuit accusing the generic drug makers of a massive, systematic conspiracy to bilk consumers out of billions of dollars.
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Low Serious Infection Risk with Newer Agents in Psoriasis
JAMA Dermatology reports on a comparative cohort study of 107,707 psoriasis patients, finding a decreased risk of serious infections among users of apremilast, etanercept, and ustekinumab when compared with methotrexate.
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RheumNow Podcast – Periodontitis in RA Relatives (5.10.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com
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Gabapentinoid Drugs Overuse and Misuse
A recent article in JAMA by Drs. Goodman and Brett reviews the increasing off label use of gabapentinoid drugs, originally developed as antiseizure drugs that are now increasingly prescribed for painful conditions.
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Calcineurin Inhibitors in Anti-Synthetase Dermatomyositis ILD
A pilot treatment study of patients with anti-aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase antibody–positive polymyositis/dermatomyositis-associated interstitial lung disease (anti-ARS-PM/DM-ILD) shows therapy with glucocorticoids and calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) to be highly effective.
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Drug Pricing Regulations in US and Canada
Reuters reports on regulatory efforts by Canada and the US to curb the rising cost of drugs, especially expensive new medicines.
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Pilot Study Targets Insulin Resistence in Fibromyalgia
An unusual pilot study has shown that insulin resistence (IR), assessed by Hgb-A1c levels, was more prevalent in fibromyalgia (FM) patients compared to non-diabetic controls and that when FM patients were given metformin, half had complete resolution of their pain.
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Monocyte Patrolling Contributes to Lupus Glomerulonephritis
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with a propensity to develop glomerulonephritis (47-70%) or end-stage kidney disease despite therapy.
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Denosumab Protects Against RA Erosions
Combining denosumab (Prolia) with a conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) such as methotrexate showed promise for slowing radiographic damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a manufacturer-sponsored phase III trial called DESIRABLE found.
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RheumNow Podcast – DESIREABLE Results (5.3.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the latest journal articles and rheumatology news from the past week on RheumNow.com:
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Nonadherence is Costly for Patients in Pain
A comparative cohort study of patients with osteoarthritis (OA), gout, diabetic peripheral neuropathy (pDPN), post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), and fibromyalgia (FM) shows that nonadherence to pain medications is high and leads to greater overall health care resource utilization and costs.
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Ideal Outcomes are Seldom Achieved in Gout
Studies from a cohort of gout patients in Mexico shows that long-term goals of a target serum urate (sUA) 6 mg/dL and remission are rare, especially for those with severe gout.
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Omega-3 Rich Fish Lowers Gout Flares
Boston researchers have shown that consumption of fish rich in omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n‐3 PUFA) leads to a lower risk of recurrent gout flares.
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High GPA Hospital Readmission Rates
A national database reveals that patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) have 22.3% risk of hospital readmissions within 30 days of discharge.
From a total of 9749 hospital admissions with GPA, there were 2173 readmissions within 30 days of discharge.
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New ACR/AF Guidelines on JIA Polyarthritis and Uveitis
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the Arthritis Foundation (AF) have released two guidelines on management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).
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Shorter Treatment Succeeds in Septic Arthritis
Two weeks of antibiotic therapy was as effective as 4 weeks for septic arthritis, a prospective single-center study found.
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Targeting GM-CSF Works in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Namilumab, a monoclonal antibody that targets the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) ligand, showed promise as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a phase II study.
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RheumNow Podcast – Take it Back Jack! (4.26.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com
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Naproxen has no Effect on Alzheimer's
A randomized controlled trial shows that chronic low-dose naproxen does not reduce progression of presymptomatic Alzheimer disease (AD).
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More Studies Needed to Optimize the Use of Osteoporosis Drugs
The Annals of Internal Medicine reports a metanalysis done to examine the optimal length of long-term osteoporosis drug treatment (ODT) and whether harms are associated with long-term ODT and while the ODT benefits are clear, the risk of rare harms and need for drug holidays is less certain. 
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