PRECISION Subanalyses Question Aspirin Use

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The PRECISION trial reported last year that celecoxib appears to be safer than the NSAIDs naproxen or ibuprofen in treating osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis patients who are at increased cardiovascular risk. New data suggests that adding aspirin may nullify this advantage, according to a study presented at the annual American Heart Association meeting and reported by Medscape.

Ixekizumab (Taltz) FDA Approved for Psoriatic Arthritis

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On Friday, December 1st, the FDA approved Lilly's drug Taltz (ixekizumab) for use in adult patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy. 

Taltz, an IL-17 inhibitor, has previously been approved for plaque psoriasis where it has shown high level PASI75 and PASI100 responses.

Pregnancy Outcomes Worse with Myopathies

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Women with the autoimmune inflammatory myopathies dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM) are at increased risk for hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, a nationwide retrospective study found.

Opioid Crisis Costs US $500 Billion

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Reuters reports that the opioid crisis has cost the United States as much as $504 billion in 2015,  based on a White House economists report released this week. The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) said the toll from the opioid crisis represented 2.8% of gross dom

ACR17 Good News – Ankylosing Spondylitis and Spondyloarthritis

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The following is a collection of AS/SpA-specific mentions culled from RheumNow's coverage of the Annual ACR 2017 meeting in San Diego.

J&J Hit with a $247 Million Verdict over Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacements

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Reuters reports that a federal jury has ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics division to pay $247 million settlment to six patients who suffered from its defective Pinnacle, metal-on-metal, hip implants. in the US. J&J says it will  appeal this decision.

The RheumNow Week in Review - 17 November 2017

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com. This week he covers FDA warnings on gout drugs, steroid use in Australia, biosimilars lost savings and methotrexate hepatotoxicity in psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Stroke Increased in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory disease with systemic effects beyond the joints. While RA patients are known to have signficantly higher risks for cardiovascular disease and venous thromboembolic events, an association with stroke (CVA) is unclear.

DEA Cracks Down on Illicit Fentanyl

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Reuters reports that  U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has declaed it would classify illicit versions of fentanyl at the same level as heroin, allowing criminal prosecution of anyone who possesses, distributes or manufactures illicit versions of the drug.

Thiopurines and Anti-TNF drugs in IBD Associated with Increased Lymphoma Risk

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JAMA presents a French report on the cancer risk of thiopurine or tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) use in adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and finds a raised risk for lymphoma in IBD compared to those not treated with these agents.  (Citation source 

MTX Doubles Hepatotoxicity Risk in Psoriasis Patients

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A study from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology showing that the risk of incident liver disease doubled when patients with psoriasis (PsO) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) take methotrexate (MTX), but not when

My ACR Takeaways

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With ACR 2017 winding down and the sheer volume of information seemingly overwhelming, I wanted to take the time to write an article regarding a few tips I learned that I will use in clinical practice.

Cardiovascular Events: Allopurinol vs. Febuxostat

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In the registration trials for febuxostat there were concerns about a cardiovascular (CV) safety signal. In studies of the effect of allopurinol on CV risk/events allopurinol has found to be protective so whether febuxostat is different is a point to clarify.

Comparative Risk of Biologic Therapies in RA Patients Undergoing Elective Arthroplasty

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During today’s plenary session Micheal D. George, et al. presented results of a study that sought to compare risk of post-op infections in RA patients undergoing arthroplasty exposed to biologic DMARDs versus methotrexate.

IL-17 Inhibition with Secukinumab in PsA: X-Ray Outcomes

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With the emergence of new MOAs for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis in recent years, the most burning question remained if newer agents would perform as well in terms of radiographic progression as they did in clinical domains.

Podcast of ACR17 Day 2

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Check out this compilation of our ACR17 Day 2 videocasts merged into a one hour podcast !

Low-dose Bactrim Safe with Methotrexate in AAV

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A high proportion of GPA patients receive pneumocystis prophylaxis, usually with TMP-SMX (Bactrim), and drug interactions are always a concern.  

Co-morbid Fibromyalgia

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ACR 2017 - Day 1 Highlights

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Curtis and colleagues presented a plenary session that analyzed the duration of drug holidays and the risk of subsequent fractures (FX) in women starting bisphosphonates (BP).

Increasing Incidence of Paradoxical Autoimmune Disease with Biologics?

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With the increasing use of biologic therapies to treat rheumatic disease has come an awareness of a small but real risk of developing de novo autoimmune disease.