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Rheumatoid Modern Management is Better but More Costly
The mantra of rheumatologists worldwide is to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) earlier and more aggressively. While referral of early RA patients has improved, there is little data demonstrating that more aggressive treatment works or is cost effective.
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FDA Advisory Arthritis Committee Votes to Approve the CT-P13 (infliximab) Biosimilar
On Tuesday February 9th Celltrion presented its biosimilar developmental data to the FDA as they sought approval for their CT-P13 (called Inflectra), a biosimilar of infliximab (Remicade).
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Parenteral Methotrexate Intolerance is High in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is commonly managed with methotrexate (MTX), with many pediatric rheumatologists preferring to use parenteral MTX for compliance and absorption reasons.
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Increased Congenital Anomalies in Children from Women with a Juvenile Arthritis History
A Quebec administrative claims analysis examined the birth outcomes of women with a history of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) who subsequently had a first-time birth (between 1983-2010).
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Cochrane Review:NSAIDs Equally Effective for Axial Spondyloarthritis
Until the advent of TNF inhibitor therapy, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were the only effective treatment for ankylosing spondylitis or spondyloarthritis (SpA). More recently, several reports have suggested clinical and radiographic benefits to sustained NSAID use.
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Rheumatoid Arthritis, TNF inhibitors and the Risk of Skin Cancer
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are said to have a neutral risk for neoplasia, but this is because they have a lower risk of colon cancer and breast cancer but a higher risk of lung cancer, lymphoma and skin cancers.
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No Significant Increased Risk with TNF Inhibitors During Pregnancy
A population-based study of 1,272,424 live-born infants from Denmark and Sweden examined the prevalence of birth defects among infants born to 683 women with chronic inflammatory disease (inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, or psoriasis)
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NIH-Funded Trials Down, While Industry Trials Increase
(Reuters Health) – Every year since 2006 in the U.S., the amount of new medical research in humans funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has gone down, while the number of industry-funded trials has gone up, a new study shows.
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Updated RA Treat-to-Target International Recommendations
In 2010, Smolen and a group of international rheumatologists developed a series of recommendations addressing the concept of treat-to-target (T2T) in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
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Biosimilar Reports - January 2016
Biosimilars are the fastest developing product line within the pharmaceutical industry. There is unanimous worldwide interest in the continued use of biologics for immune mediated disorders.
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Risk of Multiple Sclerosis with TNF Inhibitor Therapy
Researchers from the DANBIO registry have linked their registry of 30,033 arthritis patients with the Danish Multiple Sclerosis Registry (DMSR) to identify all new multiple sclerosis cases occuring in arthritis patients and those receiving TNF inhibitors (TNFi).
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UK Audit Shows Early RA Referrals Still Too Slow
A national audit of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and early inflammatory arthritis patients included 6,354 patients drawn from 143 trusts and health boards in England and Wales. Early arthritis clinics exist in 57% of trusts.
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ASBMR Guidance on Bisphosphonate Use
The American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) Task Force has issued a guidance report on the use of bisphosphonates (BP) with a focus on the risk vs. benefits of such therapy. (Citation source http://buff.ly/1Nn0CVb)
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10 Ways Rheumatoid Arthritis Could’ve Killed Glenn Frey
I was truly stunned Monday when it was announced that Glenn Frey, from the Eagles, had died as a result of complications from his rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.
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Methotrexate Nonadherence is Common
Researchers from Belgium studied patient adherence to MTX (given orally or via injection) in 129 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients over a 16-week period using an electronic monitoring system and two validated adherence questionnaires.
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FDA Approves Cosentyx for Ankylosing Spondylitis and Psoriatic Arthritis
Cosentyx (secukinumab) was approved by the FDA on 15 January, 2016 for patients with active ankyosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
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BSR Issues DMARD Prescribing Guidelines for Pregnancy
Treatment paradigms for managing pregnancy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been challenged in recent years with the introduction of new agents and reclassification of drug safety during pregnancy by the FDA.
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Ominous Outcomes for Lupus Nephritis
Hanly and coworkers have reported the results of a large lupus cohort study involving 1827 patients. SLE patients were enrolled early in their disease (0.5 years) and were followed for a mean of 4.6 years.
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The Price of Drugs Continues to Increase
Drug prices increased an average of 10% in 2015 (after a 13.5% increase in 2014) and includes big name drugs from major pharmaceutical companies.
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Lesinurad augments uric acid lowering effect in allopurinol non-responders
As the never-ending battle with refractory gout continues, the need for more safe and effective treatments remains. Often, steady remission and target urate levels are not achieved with allopurinol alone.
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