Today's session, Treat to target in axSpA: reality or utopia?, was opened with a presentation by Dr. Jurgen Braun (Herne, Germany), who masterfully reintroduced us to the treat-to-target concept in spondyloarhtropathies.

The Annual EULAR Congress kicked off this afternoon in Madrid with a number of new sessions devoted to important topics. 

The first day of EULAR 2017 highlighted a symposium focus on the advances in wearable technologies. Several lectures updated attendees with the state of wearables in society and their implications on public health, fitness, weight loss and clinical trials.

Rheumatic IRAEs from checkpoint inhibitor therapy are growing rapidly in scope and rheumatologists must be aware of these complications, as they are certain to encounter this type of patient.

The current Lancet edition for 10 June 2017 is a rheumatology rich collection.  

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and reports of interest from RheumNow in the last week:

Biosimilars continue to command a great deal of research, development and attention given the promise of significant cost savings and potentially wider use for those in need. Biosimilar Reports is an ongoing series dedicated to advances, discussions and developments in biosimilar agents intended for use by rheumatologists. 

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com. 

Dr. Jack Cush Reviews highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com:

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights and updates from the past week on RheumNow.com:

Treat-to-target education through group-based quality improvement sessions can result in wider use of treat-to-target in practice, according to researchers.

The British Medical Journal has published a clinical practice guideline for the use of arthroscopic surgery for degenerative knee arthritis and meniscal tears, suggesting that many patients will not benefit from such surgery.

Dr. Jack Cush highlights the big stories, news and articles from this week at RheumNow.com.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has updated its 2008 clincial practice guideline on the treatment of low bone density and osteoporosis to prevent fractures in men and women.  The new guideline is in favor of generic bisphosphonate use and recommends against using menopausal estrogen therapy and against DEXA monitoring during the first 5 years.

Dr Jack Cush reviews highlights from the news last week on RheumNow.com: 

Reuters has reported that U.S.spending on prescription drugs in 2016 increased by 5.8 percent over 2015 levels to $450 billion based on list prices, and by 4.8 percent to $323 billion when adjusted for discounts and rebates.

A retrospective analysis of four European vasculitis trials analyzes the risk venous thromboembolism (VTE) with ANCA-associated vasculitis and shows that CRP, cutaneous and GI involvement and baseline creatinine were most associated with VTE risk.

A current JAMA report shows that the implementation of policies at academic medical centers that restricted pharmaceutical sales representative (PSR) detailing was associated with modest but significant reductions in prescribing of detailed drugs across six of eight major drug classes; however, c

BIRMINGHAM, England -- Smoking was a strong predictor of more severe disease in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA), with people who had ever smoked having worse disease activity and worse quality of life than those who had never smoked, researchers reported here.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the last week on RheumNow.com - from the ACR SOTA 2017 meeting in Chicago: