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Ustekinumab May be Effective in Lupus
Ronald F van Vollenhoven and colleagues have reported in Lancet that ustekinumab (UST), an interleukin-12 and -23 inhibitor, when added to usual therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, was shown to be superior to placebo at improving clinical efficacy and laboratory param
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Unproven But Profitable Stem Cell Clinics
Stem cell clinics are popular and proliferating as they are largely a cash business and fall outside of FDA regulatory control. In lieu of scientific proof, most advocates use patient testimonials and the placebo effect to back up their claims.
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Treat-to-Target in RA: No Increase in AEs
Implementing a treat-to-target approach for the care of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) did not result in an increase in adverse events or resource use, a post-hoc analysis of a randomized trial showed.
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FDA's Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Finalized
In response to the growing opioid crisis, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the final Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), designed to reduce the risk of abuse, misuse, addiction, overdose, and deaths due to prescription opioid analgesics.
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Breast Implant Study: More Worries or Not?
The Annals of Surgery reports on an anlaysis of FDA-mandated postmarket studies, including nearly 100,000 breast implant pprocedures, that showed silicone implants to be associated with higher rates of Sjögren's syndrome, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, stillbirth, and melanoma.
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Quarterly Canakinumab Reduces Gout Risk Without Affecting Uric Acid
The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that interleukin-1 (IL-1) inhibitor treatment is associated with a reduced risk of gout attacks - such are the findings of an anlysis of the CANTOS study previously reported at the Annual ACR 2017 meeting in Washington, DC.
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Lower Income Elderly are More Likely to Use Opioids
The Journal of Gerontology reports that the poorest of the elderly are the most likely to receive prescription opioids.
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BMS Tyk 2 Inhibitor Benefits Psoriasis
The NEJM reports that an oral selecive Tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor of TYK2 was shown to be superior to placebo in a 12 week trial in patients with active psoriasis.
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Out of Pocket Costs for Biosimilars - No Savings So Far
JAMA has published an analysis showing that under Medicare Part D, RA biosimilar infliximab-dyyb was only moderately less expensive (18% less) than the biologic infliximab and, owing to differences in gap discounts, the out of pocket costs for the biosimilar was nearly $1700 more than infliximab
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Cutting Oral JAK 1/2 Inhibitor Dose an Option in RA
Many patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who achieved sustained disease control with baricitinib (Olumiant) treatment were able to reduce their daily dose from 4 mg to 2 mg and maintain their response, a double-blind substudy of a long-term extension trial found.
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Physician Burnout May Jeopardize Patient Safety
A metanalysis of studies and over 42,000 physician shows that MD burnout is associated with 2-fold increased in unsafe care, unprofessional behaviors, and low patient satisfaction.
The primary outcomes were the quantitative associations between burnout and patient safety, professionalism, and patient satisfaction.
Methotrexate's Low Efficacy in Cutaneous Psoriasis
In a prospective, double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled study, Warren et al. studied the effect of an intensified methotrexate (MTX) in chronic plaque psoriasis and showed MTX to be effective and superior to placebo.
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Usual Allopurinol Doses Insufficient in CKD Patients
Uric acid (sUA) control may be a challenge in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). A cohort study shows that conventional dosing recommendations for allopurinol are unlikely to reach target serum sUA goals.
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Tocilizumab Equals other Biologics in Cardiovascular Risk
An odd side effect of several new agents is the risk of hyperlipidemia. While this has been seen with tocilizumab (TCZ), there does not appear to be a resultant risk of cardiovascular (CV) events. A study of claims data compared CV risk in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving TOC (an IL6 receptor antagonists) and other biologics and found no differences with regard to CV outcomes.
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New BSR Guidelines on Biologic Safe Use with Inflammatory Arthritis
The British Society of Rheumatology has produced a set of NICE accredited guidelines for the use of biologic therapies in patients with inflammatory arthritis.
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No Cancer Risk from Psoriatic Arthritis
Inflammmation is a strong risk factor for malignancy. Yet there are mixed results on whether patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsAg) augments the incidence of cancer and all-cause and cause-mortality.
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2018 EULAR Recommendations for Hand Osteoarthritis Care
The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) has previously put forth recommendations for management of hand osteoarthritis (OA) in 2007. But since then, advances and further evidence have emerged.
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The Safety of Paternal Exposure to DMARDs and Biologics
Pregnancy and drug safety is a complex issue, often with limited informatoin about maternal drug exposure on the offspring. Greater uncertainty exists when considering whether paternal exposure may also influence fetal outcomes.
Read ArticleQuestions Remain about Shingrix Safety in Rheumatic Disease
The efficacy and safety of the new zoster vaccine Shingrix has not been established among patients with autoimmune diseases, researchers reported here.
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2018-2019 ACIP Recommendations for Seasonal Influenza Vaccination
The current issue of the CDC's MMWR reviews the new seasonal recommendations for vaccination against influenza. This is an update to the previous recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
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