On Friday, July 10th, the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly to streamline the approval process of prescription drugs and medical devices by the FDA.

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.

On May 26, RheumNow.com reported that Amgen and Astra-Zenica suspended drug development for the IL-17 inhibitor brodalumab.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

IL-17 inhibitors are being developed for treatment of psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis. Broadalumab has been in phase II & III trials and been developed by a partnership between Amgen and Astra-Zeneca.

The manufacturers of the 2 best selling TNF inhibitors, Enbrel and Humira, have announced a 9.9% price increase of May 1st. The current average price of Enbrel is $42,000 per annum.

Carl Schoellhammerhas just won the Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize for his invention - the microneedle pill.

Pooled analyses of the tanezumab (a nerve growth factor inhibitor) phase 3 studies was presented at the 2015 Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) World Congress.

Current Sunshine Act disclosures do not apply to CME certified educational activities for either the participants or the presenters. CMS has debated and waffled on whether companies would be required to report payments to doctors who speak at, or attend, CME seminars.

Randomized clinical trials are needed to show efficacy and safety, and are needed to back up the claims and indications for a particular drug. The issue of treatment choice has become challenging, especially when choosing to start or augment therapy.

An advisory board has recommended osteoarthritis and a host of disorders for inclusion in the Illinois new medical marijuana program.

In the last 12 months, levothyroxine (Synthroid) was the most prescribed drug in the USA  with 21.6 million prescriptions. Adalimumab (Humira) had 8.3 billion in sales, followed by etanercept (Enbrel) at nearly $6 billion. 

Unused pills and prescriptions pose a significant safety risk in the home and may contribute to dosing errors or inadvertent drug use. The issue has led the DEA to sponsor national drug disposal programs and local municipalities have followed with similar programs. At issue is who shoul