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SB4 - A Second Biosimilar Up For Review in Europe
A biosimilar of etanercept (Enbrel) made by the South Korean company Samsung Bioepis is under consideration by regulators in the European Union. Samsung Bioepis, a joint venture between Samsung Biologics and Biogen, is taking aim with its version of etanercept.
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Alcohol and Methotrexate - What Do You Advise?
What are your rules on methotrexate and alcohol use? How about casual, social or occasional alcohol use? If one alcoholic beverage is ok, what about 2, 3 or six while taking MTX?
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Tocilizumab & Abatacept Effective in Giant Cell Arteritis
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a medium and large vasculitis, wherein only glucocorticoids (GC) treatment has been the mainstay of therapy. As many will require prolonged treatment, the hazards of GC are well known, lead to substantial toxicity and morbidity.
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Surviving Infection on DMARDs or Biologics
Sepsis is a dangerous and potentially fatal consequence of serious infections (SIE), particularly in susceptible populations such as the elderly and immunosuppressed. Published evidence points toward the potential role of TNF in development of sepsis.
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Are Guidelines Worth the Cost?
A thoughtful perspective on the purpose, focus and cost of guideline efforts in rheumatology has been published in the journal Rheumatology.
Pharmacy Benefit Managers at Odds with Specialty Pharmacies
Reuters and the Wall Street Journal have reported that the largest U.S. pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) of private prescription drug benefits have cut off at least eight pharmacies that work closely with drugmakers, intensifying scrutiny of a system that helps inflate drug prices.
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Hypertension Increased in Psoriasis Treated with NSAIDs, Cyclosporine or Steroids
Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patient have significantly higher rates of comorbidity, including hypertension (HTN). This population-based, nested case–control study analyzed an inception psoriasis cohort from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database between 2000–2010.
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Biology of Bone Remodeling in Psoriatic Disease
Paine and Ritchlin have reviewed the evidence that new bone formation is centered around enthesial sites and that such findings are evident in psoriatic arthritis as well as psoriasis patients without arthritis.
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Is Baricitinib Really Better Than Adalimumab in RA: Trial Results Reviewed
Dr. Peter Taylor and colleagues presented their results of the 52-week BEAM trial wherein baricitinib (a JAK 1, 2 inhibitor) was compared to adalimumab in both clinical and radiographic outcomes. This was the most viewed abstract online at the ACR website.
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Are We Using Methotrexate Appropriately?
Methotrexate is a mainstay drug in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Yet, we may not be using it long enough or optimizing its use.
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Anifrolumab Improves Lupus Outcomes
Furie and coworkers presented the results of a 52-week phase II trial of anifrolumab (ANIFR), a type I interfernon (IFN) receptor antagonist in patients with lupus (SLE).
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Mycophenolate in Scleroderma Lung Disease
Clements et al presented the results of their Scleroderma Lung Study II wherein PSS patients with interstitial lung disease were randomized to receive either 3 grams daily of mycopheonolate or 2mg/kg/day of cyclophosphamide.
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Western Diet Increased the Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Liu and coworkers from Boston presented abstract #1213, with data from the NHS II Survey. They examined 93,859 women (without RA) and their dietary data from 1991 to 2011.
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Chondroitin Superior to Celecoxib in Knee OA Cartilage Loss
A study of 194 knee OA patients received either 1200 mg chondroitin sulfate or celecoxib 200 mg daily, and clinical and MRI outcomes were assessed at 1 and 2 years.
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2015 ACR RA Guidelines Released– Finally!
ACR 2015 RA treatment guidelines were published yesterday, nearly a year after they were preliminarily presented at the 2014 ACR meeting in Boston. After a year of review and revision these have been posted.
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Invokana Decreases Autoimmune Risk
In September, the FDA issued warnings that the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inihibitor Invokana may cause a dose-dependant increased risk of bone fractures. This was based on a review of nin
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Biosimilars and the FDA
Biosimilars are in the news and will be prominently on parade at next week's ACR meeting in San Francisco. Biosimilars are similar to, but not the same as, innovator biologics.
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Increasing Trends for Prescription Drugs, But Not for Arthritis Drugs
JAMA reports the results of trends in drug use in the USA over a 13 year period using data derived 37959 adults survey in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
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More Adverse Events with Off-Label Drug Use
Off-label use of prescription drugs was associated with adverse drug events in a study of patients in Canada, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.
Repeat Skin Cancer Risk with Methotrexate and Biologics
Using Medicare claims data, a retrospective cohort study analyzed the risk of a second non-melanomatous skin cancer (NMSC) in 9460 individuals (6841 with RA and 2788 with IBD).
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