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Dual IL-17 Inhibitor in Psoriasis Succeeds
Patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis attained durable complete and near-complete responses for more than a year with a dual inhibitor of interleukin (IL)-17, data from a randomized trial showed.
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AAD/NPF Guidelines on Biologic Use in Psoriasis
Menter and colleagues from the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) and National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) have published their expert consensus guidelines for the use of biologics in psoriasis.
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RheumNow Podcast – Scleroderma and the Lung (3.1.19)
Dr. Jack Cush Reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com
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Early TNF inhibition in Early Psoriatic Arthritis
A small, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in early psoriatic arthritis (PsA) has shown that first-line use of golimumab and methotrexate (MTX) is superior to MTX alone in inducing remission in PsA.
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Allopurinol Reduces Cardiovascular Outcomes in Diabetes
A Canadian study has shown that elderly diabetics who take allopurinol have a significant reduction in cardiovascular outcomes.
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Senate Drills Drug Makers Over Price
Reuters reported that today, the US Senate Finance Committee met to question the executives from seven US pharmaceutical companies on the rising price drugs in America.
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Canadian Vaccination Guidelines for the Immunosuppressed
A multidisciplinary Canadian task force has developed guidelines for vaccination in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapies, based on the evidence that immunosuppressive use in immune-mediated disease may be associated with an elevated risk of infections.
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FDA Slaps a Boxed Warning on Febuxostat for CV Risk
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reviewed data from the Cardiovascular Safety of Febuxostat and Allopurinol in Patients with Gout and Cardiovascular Morbidities (CARES) trial and concluded there is an increased risk of death with Uloric (febuxostat) compared with allopurinol, and has added this as a boxed warning to the drug’s product label.
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The Risk of Tuberculosis with TNF Inhibitors
A study from Turkey shows that among 2117 patients treated with a TNF inhibitor (TNFi) the risk of developing TB was 6 fold higher in those treated with a TNFi compared to non-users.
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RheumNow Podcast - Death and Surgery (2-22-19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com:
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Lupus Microbiome May Drive Disease Activity
Silverman and colleagues have published their study of the fecal microbiome of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and found roughly five times more gut bacteria known as Ruminococcus gnavus, and that these abnormalities in microbiota can correlate with measures of disease severity i
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Impressive Survival of Interleukin-1 Inhibitors in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
The drug retention rate of interleukin-1 inhibitors (IL-1) used to treat systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) appears to be quite high according to a new study.
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Safety Warnings for Higher Dose Tofacitinib
Pfizer has issued a press release regarding the safety of tofacitinib, citing higher rates of pulmonary embolism and death associated with the use of higher dose tofacitinib 10mg bid in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated in a long-term safety trial.
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Remission Unlikely in RA
Dr. Marwan Bukhari (editor of Rheumatology) has written an editorial wherein he suggests that true remission is hard to achieve. He notes that "remission as a target is a noble objective that we should all aspire to but we should not chastise our practice if we do not achieve it, as more and more evidence suggests that we should consider it the ideal but not the norm."
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TKR - One or Two at a Time?
His would-be surgeon tried mightily to talk him out of a bilateral knee replacement. At 340 pounds, the patient's BMI -- above 43 -- was a significant contraindication.
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Older Men Less Likely to be Assessed and Treated for Osteoporosis
A study from the University of Washington in Seattle find that men with osteoporosis were less likely to be assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA); vitamin D measurements and were less like to receive calcium/vitamin D and bisphosphonate prescriptions.
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Hip Replacements Lasting 25 Years
Lancet reports that, based on a literature review and metanalysis, patients and surgeons can expect a hip replacement to last 25 years in around 58% of patients.
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RheumNow Podcast - MTX vs. Etanercept in Psoriatic Arthritis (2.15.19)
Dr. Jack Cush discusses the news from the past week on RheumNow.com - including the SEAM trial, MRI guided T2T, biologics and infection, contraceptive use, ANA negative lupus, etc.
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Stopping Biologics Before Joint Surgery: Is Earlier Better?
Withholding intravenous abatacept (Orencia) for longer than a month before hip or knee arthroplasty among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) did not lower the risk for postoperative infection, a retrospective claims-based analysis found.
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No Added Benefit to MRI-Guided Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis
A treat-to-target (T2T) strategy to manage rheumatoid arthritis hinges on clinical metrics to optimize therapy. But investigators from Denmark have shown that using magnetic resonance imaging–guided T2T failed to improve disease activity remission rates or reduce radiographic progression.
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