The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) is actively engaged with the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) drug shortage team as they work with the manufacturer to resolve current shortages of tocilizumab (Actemra).

Nonserious infections (NSI) comprise the bulk of all infections seen with biologic therapies; new data from British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register for Rheumatoid Arthritis shows that while NSI are more common than serious infections, the predictors of NSI are the same as serious infections.

ATLANTA – The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices today recommended that rheumatology patients being actively treated with high-dose corticosteroids, alkylating agents, antimetabolites, TNF blockers, and other biologic agents that are immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory receive a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.

Sporadic reports of anakinra use in COVID-19 infection has hinted is potential; now a metanalysis shows that the use of anakinra may reduce the mortality risk in patients admitted to hospital with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia, especially highly elevated ferritin and C-reactive prote

A new European real world experience study shows that mepolizumab is effective at both 100 or 300mg every 4 weeks in patients with the rarely encountered eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA; or Churg-Strauss Syndrome). 

In Canada, biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) were introduced after 2001, and since that time there have been significant reductions in hip and knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but not in patients with osteoarthritis (OA).

The CDC had reported the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) study of rare serious adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination and assert that the excessive morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 (and the protection afforded by vaccination) far exceeds the risk of rare safety signals

The TORTUGA trial tested filgotinib, a JAK1 inhibitor, in active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients and was shown to be both effective and capable of retarding sacroiliac (SI) joint erosions as early as 12 weeks.

A large, single-rheumatology center analysis of oral and subcutaneous (SC) methotrexate (MTX) use in daily clinical practice suggests that SC MTX has fewer drug discontinuations and is better tolerated compared to other DMARD therapies.

It was a banner week at the FDA; a new drug approval you should know about; a lot of information about pregnancy and safety; and an interesting case plus a question from one of our readers submitted via Back Talk. This and more in this week's podcast. Let's dive in.

A retrospective cohort study examined the need for joint replacement surgery in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and showed there has been a trend to delay arthroplasty over time. The JIA category, year of implant, and presence of complications significantly affected implant survivorship.

Post-vaccination disease flares were uncommon among patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases who were inoculated against COVID-19, researchers found.