Last Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Ofev (nintedanib) to slow the rate of decline in pulmonary function in adults with interstitial lung disease associated with systemic sclerosis or scleroderma, called SSc-ILD.

ILD as a complication of SSc may lead to progressive loss of lung function and may be associated with a significant mortality risk. Prior to the approval of Olev, there were no FDA approved drugs for SSc-ILD.

A large pregnancy registry has published their results showing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who become pregnant are less likely to breastfeed compared to non-RA women from the general population, with many women stopping breastfeeding so that they could start medication, even though many of

Choi and colleagues have shown that four modifiable risk factors (BMI, the DASH diet, alcohol use, and diuretic use) could individually account for a notable proportion of observed hyperuricemia. 

An insurance claims based study of RA patients with COPD shows that biologics do not have an increased rate of respiratory events compared to those on conventional DMARDs.

A real world cohort of RA patients with COPD was drawn from US-based MarketScan databases. Patients on biologic DMARDs and/or targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs) were propensity matched to those on conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs).

Morbidly obese patients who lost 20 lbs before total knee arthroplasty (TKA) cut their hospital stays by about 1 day, and were 76% less likely to have an extended hospital stay, research showed. 

FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee met in Silver Spring, Maryland, on March 6 and 22, 2019, to select the influenza viruses for the composition of the influenza vaccine for the 2019-2020 U.S. influenza season.

The ENTRACTE trial examined the risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in RA patients and found no increased risk of MACE in patients treated with tocilizumab (TCZ) versus etanercept (ETN).

Detailed analysis of two clinical trials in RA has shown that clinical responses decrease as the disease duration and number of prior DMARDs increase.

The associations between disease duration and number of prior DMARDs and response to therapy were assessed using data from two randomised controlled trials in patients with established RA (mean duration, 11 years) receiving adalimumab+methotrexate.

Dr. Jack Cush vents on choosing new therapies in rheumatoid arthritis.

Vitamin D might not be much help for strengthening bones among healthy adults without osteoporosis, Canadian researchers reported, even at doses far higher than recommended daily allowances.

In a clinical trial assessing three levels of daily vitamin D supplementation -- 400 IU, 4,000 IU, and 10,000 IU -- radial volumetric bone mineral density was significantly lower among those (ages 55-70) taking higher doses for 3 years, according to Steven Boyd, PhD, of the University of Calgary in Canada, and colleagues.

The usual risk factors for myocarditis may not apply to who gets it while on immune checkpoint inhibiting cancer drugs, an FDA adverse event database suggested.

The FDA has approved the IL-17A inhibitor Taltz (ixekizumab) for the treatment of adults with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS: also known as radiographic axial spondyloarthritis).  

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR), in partnership with the Spondylitis Association of America (SAA) and the Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network (SPARTAN), released the 2019 Update of the Recommendations for the Treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) and Nonradiographic Axi

Dr. Jack Cush reports on the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com, including: how your genetics may shape your microbiome; GERD as a risk factor for TMJ?; how can MDA-5+ dermatomyositis be any worse; new drug happenings; StillsNow.com; and more.

A study from Leeds suggests 'multi-dimensional remission' (MDR) can be seen in one-third of RA patients achieving DAS28-remission; such patients have better patient-reported outcome measures, making it an optimal goal, especially from a patient's perspective.

Osteoporosis treatments were not linked with reduced overall mortality, according to a meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trial data.

A study of pregnancy outcomes in 98 women with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) who were exposed to DMARDs shows no increased risk of major adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Immunologic remission in rheumatoid arthritis, defined as the disappearance of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies and rheumatoid factor, was seen infrequently among patients achieving sustained clinical remission and did not correlate with the disappearance of symptoms, a long-term Dutch study found.

A head-to-head trial has shown that risankizumab was significantly superior to adalimumab in providing skin clearance (PASI90) in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, with no difference in safety signals between the two agents.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday, August 16, approved AbbVie JAK1 inhibitor, Rinvoq (upadacitinib) for adults with  rheumatoid arthritis with moderately to severely active disease either not responding to, or intolerant of, methotrexate (MTX).