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Industry Abstract Previews - ACR2020
Each pharmaceutical company has spent months and years preparing to present and highlight their featured clinical trials and abstracts at ACR 2020. This is our selection of their best studies for you to review and evaluate as part of your to-do list.
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TNF Inhibitor Associated Infectious Risk Greatest in First 6 Months
The risk of serious infections (SIE) in RA patients given anti-TNF (TNFi) therapy is not static, instead it has been shown to be greatest in the first 6 months of use according to a recent report in Rheumatology.
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Long-Term Benefits of Ixekizumab in Psoriatic Arthritis
The SPIRIT-P1 study has demonstrated the safety and efficacy of ixekizumab (an IL-17A antagonist) when given to adults w/ active psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and also demonstrating radiographic protection and improvement in skin outcomes as well.
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SPARTAN ACR20 Recommendations on Spondyloarthritis
SPARTAN has compiled a list of presentations and sessions worth seeing if you are interested in ankylosing spondylitis, spondyloarthritis and related disorders.
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RheumNow Podcast – ACR 20 is Coming to Town (10.30.20)
Dr Jack Cush overviews the RheumNow commitment, upcoming bonus coverage of ACR20 and the good news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com
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FDA Invites Patient Input on Systemic Sclerosis Drug Development
While there have been several promising new agents for systemic sclerosis, many have failed - with all noting the difficulties in appropriate outcomes and endpoints for clinical trials. With this in mind, the FDA was interested in hearing patients’ perspectives on systemic sclerosis and new drug development, and held a virtual meeting on 10/13/20.
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Guselkumab, an IL-23 Inhibitor, Effective in Psoriatic Arthritis
The DISCOVER‐2 trial has shown that guselkumab, an interleukin‐23p19 was shown to be safe and effective in biologic‐naïve psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients in a one year study.
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Fibromyalgia Therapies Show Limited Evidence of Pain and QOL Reduction
JAMA Internal Medicine has published a review showing that most currently approved therapies for fibromyalgia (FM) do not have high-quality evidence to support their use; with some reducing pain or improving quality of life (QOL) in the short term, but overall effect size is not impressive.
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Vedolizumab Promising in Immune-Related GI Events
Vedolizumab (Entyvio) was superior to infliximab (Remicade) for treating immune-mediated diarrhea and colitis (IMDC), a researcher reported.
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Immune Necrotizing Myopathy
A full read review of immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy is portrayed as a distinct subtype of inflammatory myopathies first described in 2004.
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Telemedicine Outcomes in RA Care
A new short‐term follow‐up study has shown no significant difference in outcomes and quality measures in patients with RA who were managed by telemedicine (compared to usual in-person care).
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RheumNow Podcast – Back Talk: Questions from Listeners (10.23.20)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports, survey results and "Back Talk" questions from Rheums.
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High Burnout Rates Among Rheumatologists
Bergman and colleagues have studied a large cohort of US rheumatologists and found that nearly half meet at least one criterion defining "burnout" among physicians.
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Biologic Use for Arthritis Linked With Depression and Anxiety
In a recent study of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, the initiation of a biologic treatment or switching to another biologic was associated with an increased likelihood of the use of antidepressants and anxiolytics, reported Petros P. Sfikakis, MD, of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and colleagues in RMD Open: Rheumatic & Musculoskeletal Diseases.
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Outpatient Visits Return to Pre-COVID Rates
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted outpatient care - numbers, scope, quality, etc, but a recent study suggests that while COVID has changed the scope of care, the numbers of outpatient visits have risen to near pre-pandemic numbers.
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TNF Inhibitors or non-TNF Biologics - First Best Choice?
Prospective observational findings from the CORRONA registry of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients compared clinical outcomes between initial aggressive therapy using either a tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) or a non-TNFi (biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) and tar
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Abatacept vs. Upadacitinib in Biologic Refractory Rheumatoid Arthritis
NEJM reports the results of the SELECT-Choice trial, a head to head study of upadacitinib (UPA) and abatacept (ABA) in biologic refractory rheumatoid arthritis (RA); 12 weeks results showed UPA was significantly more clinically effective than ABA using a DAS28-CRP remission, but ABA had fewer safety signals and serious adverse events.
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COVID Transmission from Young to Old
The CDC has analyzed temporal trends in percent positivity by age group in COVID-19 hotspot counties before and after their identification as hotspots.
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Tofacitinib and Thromboembolic Risk
Mease and colleagues have reviewed the tofacitinib drug development and clinical trial data, finding the risk of venous (VTE) and arterial thromboembolism (ATE) to be low and augmented in patients with baseline cardiovascular abd VTE risk factors and those taking higher doses of tofacitinib (10 m
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