Major advances in biosimilars have occurred in the last three months, beginning with the FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee voting 21-3 to approve Celltrion’s Inflectra (CT-P13) and ending with the recent approval of Inflectra (generically referred to as infliximab dyyb).

Systemic lupus is a clinically heterogeneous disorder, unified by requisite clinical features and exuberant humoral response to unknown triggers.  While the diagnosis is easy, the disease course and management can be complicated and challenging.  

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the rheumatology highlights from the news, media, and journals from this past week:

Lopez and colleagues from Spain have studied the gut microbiome of l

It is estimated that 21% of laboratory tests are requested inappropriately. Researchers have explored the impact of educational programs for rheumatologists working at three rheumatology departments in secondary and tertiary care centers in The Netherlands.

Systemic sclerosis is one of the most challenging of rheumatic diseases, often complicated by significant morbidity and leads to irreversible disability in many cases.

Highlights from this week on RheumNow.com

RheumNow sadly notes that rheumatology icon and educator Dr. Evelyn Hess passed away on December 25, 2015.  She leaves behind a legacy career and a legion of clinicians, teachers, researchers and leaders whom she taught and inspired.

See the highlights from the past week that appeared on RheumNow.com, and watch Dr. Jack Cush as he reviews each of them. 

In February 2016, RheumNow published 82 tweets about impactful news, research and teaching points that impact the rheumatology community. These feeds had a reach (impressions) of 80,800 with, 76 mentions, and over 2700 visits to learn on RheumNow.com.

Highlights from this week at RheumNow.com:

Fidler and colleagues from Toronto have recently shown that pulmonary disease is common in lupus, as they found 56% of their patients with abnormal pulmonary assessments.

The ACR is inviting members and rheumatologists to comment on their proposal to develop recommendations for the "Perioperative Management of Rheumatic Disease Medications in Total Joint Arthroplasty of the Hip and Knee".   

Healio reports that patients followed in a combined Dermatology and Rheumatology clinic in Canada revealed high patient satisfaction. 

Lancet has reported the results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of tocilizumab in patients with new-onset giant cell arteritis (GCA).

The frequency of not returning (lost to follow-up) (LTFU) in patients with rheumatic diseases is high. Associated demographic factors included older age in RA, female gender in SLE and Ps/PsA, and younger age in Ps/PsA, with various reasons for being LTFU.

A systematic review by Khouri examined the extent drugs are capable of inducing Raynaud's phenomenon (RP).

Arkema and colleagues assessed maternal and fetal outcomes in patients with SLE, pre-clinical (prior to onset) SLE and prevalent maternal SLE during pregnancy compared with the general population.

Highlights from this week on RheumNow:

The spectrum and extent of the Zika virus is still evolving.  Lancet has reported 42 patients diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) during the Zika virus outbreak in French Polynesia.