Here's my summary of key studies presented Tuesday. 

Tofacitinib in Polyarticular JIA

Below are several of the highlight studies in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) presented at the ACR 2019 annual meeting in Atlanta. 

Monday was another full day of sessions and studies here in Atlanta. Following is my roundup of day two.

The Safety of Methotrexate

As we enter flu season it is of the utmost importance that we remember to assess our patients’ influenza vaccine status at each visit.

The ACR Plenary Sessions featured some of the best research presented on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Atlanta. Here are my seven notable highlights from the Plenaries.

Sunday was the first full day of scientific sessions at the 2019 ACR/ARP meeting in Atlanta. Yesterday we shared our initial news articles, videos and more with you. Following is my roundup of day one. 

Delays in Diagnosis

Everyone has life hacks.  Years of experience and doing the same things repetitively allow us to figure out little tricks to make life easier. A rat in a maze, finding itself at a dead end, will back up and search for a clearing.

There were new developments in the treatment of axial Spondyloarthritis (AS) at ACR 2019. The first area is on the use of anti-IL17A drugs, secukinumab and ixekizumab in non-radiographic AS. The second area is the use of JAK-1 inhibitor Upadacitinib in radiographic AS.

Dr. Jack Cush presents his favorite abstracts and presentations from Rheumatology Round Up and ACR 2019.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

A Spanish prospective cohort of active, uncontrolled gout patients were followed and showed that failure to reach a target serum uric acid (sUA) level of 6 mg/dl (0.36 mmol/L) or less was associated with a 2-3 fold increase in mortality.

A cohort study of 97 patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) examined the prescribing practices in PsA, and found biologics are commonly initiated as the primary mode of therapy in outpatients with PsA. However, treatment modifications can be made regarding patients who are managed with apremilast alone.

The European Medicines Agency safety committee (PRAC) has concluded that Xeljanz (tofacitinib - TOFA) could increase the risk of blood clots in the lungs and in deep veins in patients who are already at high risk for venous thromboembolic events. The PRAC is recommending that TOFA should be used with caution in patients at high risk of blood clots (VTE), regardless of dose used.

Reuters reports that Mallinckrodt Plc has received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for documents related to the drugmaker’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Major new insights into the treatment of psoriatic arthritis dominated the headlines during the past year, with a head-to-head trial comparing IL-17A inhibition with tumor necrosis factor blockade, another study considering whether methotrexate can improve outcomes with anti-TNF therapy in PsA, and an investigation into the effects of biologic therapy on bone.

Novartis has announced the results of the EXCEED trial that pitted its IL-17 inhibitor, Cosentyx (secukinumab - SEC) against Humira (adalimumab - ADA) in patients with active psoriatic arthritis. The trial demonstrated that SEC was not non-inferior to ADA, but failed to meet its primary endpoint of superiority over ADA as far as drug efficacy.

Yesterday, AbbVie reported the top-line study results showing the efficacy of Rinvoq (upadacitinib - UPAD) adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis who previously had an inadequate response to a biologic DMARD.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews recent journal articles and info bits from the past week on RheumNow.com. 

A Canadian population-based study shows that pregnant women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) frequently discontinue their DMARD medications, especially in the first trimester.

Children with inflammatory diseases who were treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors had a higher rate of incident psoriasis than those not exposed to these biologics, a single-center retrospective study found.