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2018 Swedish Guidelines for Giant Cell Arteritis Treatment
The Swedish Society of Rheumatology has developed evidence-based guidelines for the management of giant cell arteritis (GCA) with a focus on the appropriate use of corticosteroids and tocilizumab.
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Biologic Agents have Equal Efficacy in Enthesitis and Dactylitis
A systematic review has shown that TNF inhibitors (TNFi) are equaled in efficacy by other biologic agents (ustekinumab, secukinumab, and ixekizumab) in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients with in dactylitis and enthesitis.
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Dual IL-17 Inhibitor in Psoriasis Succeeds
Patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis attained durable complete and near-complete responses for more than a year with a dual inhibitor of interleukin (IL)-17, data from a randomized trial showed.
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RheumNow Podcast – Scleroderma and the Lung (3.1.19)
Dr. Jack Cush Reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com
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Early TNF inhibition in Early Psoriatic Arthritis
A small, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in early psoriatic arthritis (PsA) has shown that first-line use of golimumab and methotrexate (MTX) is superior to MTX alone in inducing remission in PsA.
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Canadian Vaccination Guidelines for the Immunosuppressed
A multidisciplinary Canadian task force has developed guidelines for vaccination in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapies, based on the evidence that immunosuppressive use in immune-mediated disease may be associated with an elevated risk of infections.
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FDA Slaps a Boxed Warning on Febuxostat for CV Risk
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reviewed data from the Cardiovascular Safety of Febuxostat and Allopurinol in Patients with Gout and Cardiovascular Morbidities (CARES) trial and concluded there is an increased risk of death with Uloric (febuxostat) compared with allopurinol, and has added this as a boxed warning to the drug’s product label.
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The Risk of Tuberculosis with TNF Inhibitors
A study from Turkey shows that among 2117 patients treated with a TNF inhibitor (TNFi) the risk of developing TB was 6 fold higher in those treated with a TNFi compared to non-users.
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RheumNow Podcast - Death and Surgery (2-22-19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com:
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Lupus Microbiome May Drive Disease Activity
Silverman and colleagues have published their study of the fecal microbiome of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and found roughly five times more gut bacteria known as Ruminococcus gnavus, and that these abnormalities in microbiota can correlate with measures of disease severity i
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Impressive Survival of Interleukin-1 Inhibitors in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
The drug retention rate of interleukin-1 inhibitors (IL-1) used to treat systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) appears to be quite high according to a new study.
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Safety Warnings for Higher Dose Tofacitinib
Pfizer has issued a press release regarding the safety of tofacitinib, citing higher rates of pulmonary embolism and death associated with the use of higher dose tofacitinib 10mg bid in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated in a long-term safety trial.
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Remission Unlikely in RA
Dr. Marwan Bukhari (editor of Rheumatology) has written an editorial wherein he suggests that true remission is hard to achieve. He notes that "remission as a target is a noble objective that we should all aspire to but we should not chastise our practice if we do not achieve it, as more and more evidence suggests that we should consider it the ideal but not the norm."
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Older Men Less Likely to be Assessed and Treated for Osteoporosis
A study from the University of Washington in Seattle find that men with osteoporosis were less likely to be assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA); vitamin D measurements and were less like to receive calcium/vitamin D and bisphosphonate prescriptions.
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RheumNow Podcast - MTX vs. Etanercept in Psoriatic Arthritis (2.15.19)
Dr. Jack Cush discusses the news from the past week on RheumNow.com - including the SEAM trial, MRI guided T2T, biologics and infection, contraceptive use, ANA negative lupus, etc.
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Stopping Biologics Before Joint Surgery: Is Earlier Better?
Withholding intravenous abatacept (Orencia) for longer than a month before hip or knee arthroplasty among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) did not lower the risk for postoperative infection, a retrospective claims-based analysis found.
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SEAM-PsA Study - Does Monotherapy MTX Win Despite Losing to Etanercept in Psoriatic Arthritis?
The SEAM-PsA study examined the efficacy of methotrexate monotherapy, etanercept monotherapy or the combination of MTX and ETN in psoriatic arthritis patients, and found that ETN monotherapy was equivalent to combination therapy - and that both were superior to MTX alone in clinical (ACR and MDA) and radiographic responses.
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Ten Contemporary Challenges Facing Lupus Treatment
A group of French researchers have pooled their interests to identify the challenges ahead in the management of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
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RheumNow Podcast – Downside of Lupus (2.9.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews this past week's news and reports from RheumNow.com:
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Biologic High Out of Pocket Costs for Medicare Patients
Specialty tier drugs, including biologics, accounts for nearly half of all medication spending by Medicare Part D patients. High out-of-pocket costs for these patients is a major concern.
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