Update on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Toxicity

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JAMA has a 2018 update/review of the safety issues seen with mmune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) - important new cancer therapies, with 14 cancer indications, that have significantly improved survival in several. ICIs are monoclonal antibodies that block inhibitors of T-cell activation and function.

IL-6 for Adult Still's: A New Option?

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Some clinical benefits were seen among patients with adult-onset Still's disease treated with tocilizumab (Actemra) in a small clinical trial, but the study's primary endpoint was not met, Japanese researchers reported.

NSAIDs OK for Certain High-Risk Groups?

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Some patients typically contraindicated for prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use may be able to take them with no increased risk of harm, according to a large observational study.

RheumNow Week in Review – Vitamin D Falls Again (10.4.18)

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

Predictive Risk Factors for Uveitis in JIA

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Researchers from Germany have studied a large cohort of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients and shown that JIA disease activity scores and laboratory biomarkers could be used to better define the group of JIA patients at high risk of uveitis onset.

Elder Rheumatoids Less Likely to Receive Biologics

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Multiple studies have shown that elderly rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients tend to be under-treated and receive DMARD therapies less often than younger RA patients.

Long-Term Efficacy of Canakinumab in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

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Only inhibitors of IL-1 (canakinumab) and IL-6 (tocilizumab) are FDA approved for use in children with systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA). Now, long-term data from the extension studies from two phase III studies shows that canakinumab yields long-term improvements with reduced glucocorticoid dosing with no new safety findings with long-term use.

Defining Refractory Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Researchers from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics (BSRBR) set out to define under what circumstances will rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients manifest biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) refractory disease.

Neuropathic Like Knee Pain

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Fernandez and colleagues have shed further light on a significant subset of patients with knee pain - specifically, those with neuropathic like knee pain (NKP) that includes those with knee pain modified by central and peripheral neurologic dysfunction.

RheumNow Week in Review – I Wanna New Drug (9.28.18)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week on RheumNow.com, including news on inappropriate opioids, pre-clinical RA treatment, DMARDs in Gout, the decline of arthroscopy, and a pain in the mouth.

Venous Thromboembolism Increased with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Not with TNF Inhibition

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Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common adverse event throughout medicine and includes both pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).   The cost of diagnosing a thromboembolic event is approximately $4000 - $5550, while the annual cost of treating one case of VTE is betwe

What Works in Undifferentiated Arthritis Patients

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Fractures May Lead to Systemic Bone Loss

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Researchers at the University of California - Davis have shown that elderly women who had an upper body fracture or multiple fractures had more loss of hip density compared to those who who did not fracture. Systemic bone loss may increase the risk of future fractures. 

Maastricht Study Links Dairy Intake to Osteoarthritis

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The Maastricht study explored the potential association between dairy consumption and knee osteoarthritis (OA), and found that higher intake of full-fat dairy and Dutch cheese - but not milk - was significantly associated with the lower risk of knee OA.

Treat-to-Target in RA: No Increase in AEs

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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.

FDA's Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Finalized

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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.

Breast Implant Study: More Worries or Not?

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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.

Mediterranean Diet Reduces Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis

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High adherence to a Mediterranean diet appears to be associated with a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially in men and those who are seropositive, according to a study published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Out of Pocket Costs for Biosimilars - No Savings So Far

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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

Cutting Oral JAK 1/2 Inhibitor Dose an Option in RA

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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.