Adding a corticosteroid shot to exercise therapy significantly improved symptoms of chronic Achilles tendinopathy, a 100-person randomized trial found.

Horizon has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the expanded labeling of pegloticase (Krystexxa) injection to be co-administered with methotrexate (MTX), to improve response rates in patients with uncontrolled gout.

For 2022, let's look our top 10 list of advances, game-changers, worries and those better medical practices that evolved during 2021.

An interesting study in Lancet Rheumatology shows that psoriatic arthritis patients not responding to methotrexate alone can respond after adding or escalating adalimumab on top of methotrexate to reach minimal disease activity (MDA) response. 

Drug survival may be the best measure of efficacy and safety. A study of novel therapy durability (survival) in patients with RA, axial spondyloarthritis, PsA, and psoriasis shows that while all these drugs are approved for said conditions, drug survival varies by condition, suggesting an ongoing need for individualized treatment.

A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine reports chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients can be safely treated with allopurinol without an increased risk of mortality.

This year at EULAR 2022, there were important and interesting topics in Axial Spondyloarthritis (AxSpA). These are my picks of abstracts from the conference.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews recent news, regulatory and guideline updates from the past week on RheumNow.com.  Studies on methotrexate use, COVID vaccination, Supplements and vitamins, and arthrocentesis despite anticoagulation are discussed.

A new way of inhibiting tumor necrosis factor (TNF) for treating rheumatoid arthritis showed strong results in a phase II/III clinical trial, researchers said.

Analysis of two large clinical trial datasets shows that placebo response rates in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis are better when the patient continued background methotrexate (MTX). 

The GRAPPA (Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis) treatment recommendations have been updated and the 2021 evidence-based guidance is rich in treatment recommendations based on the key disease "domains" - peripheral arthritis, axial disease, enthesitis, dactylitis, skin and nail psoriasis; with new PsA related domains uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease.

Recent FDA and MMWR warnings suggest that gabapentin was present and implicated in almost 10% of US overdose deaths between 2019 and 2020. This CDC report also stated that gabapentin was the cause of the death in half of these cases. 

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) appeared less safe from a cardiovascular standpoint than methotrexate in older patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), analysis of Medicare data indicated.

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has updated its recommendations regarding the efficacy of supplements or multivitamins for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality in the general adult population.