RheumNow will periodically report safety issues as Drug Safety Bulletins. These will update you with safety issues, label changes and reports of new, ongoing and resolved drug shortages that affect rheumatology. If you have suggestions or information about specific drug shortages or drug safety issues, please email us at info@rheumnow.com.

Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have studied the initial steps in an animal model of inflammatory arthritis and found that complement C5a is critical to neutrophils migration into joints.

A study published in The BMJ shows that financial ties between researchers and companies that make the drugs they are studying are independently associated with positive trial results; thereby questioning the bias in these objective trials.

Interchangeability, or the substitution of a biosimilar for its innovator biologic, is on the horizon. Will the prescriber chose the biosimilar in place of the originator? Or will this allow pharmacists or healthcare plans to substitute a biosimilar, without intervention from a healthcare provider?

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

If Congress changes or repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which adults are at risk of losing health insurance?

The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for fibromyalgia (FM) management were published in 2007 and largely had recommendations based on expert opinion’. These guidelines were updated in May of 2015 after a systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the data.

SHARE (Single Hub and Access point for pediatric Rheumatology in Europe) was established in 2012 to optimise the diagnosis and treatment of several pediatric diseases. They have recently published their recommendations regarding the diagnosis and management of juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM).

Similar to the findings in rheumatoid arthritis, lower levels of education can have predictable negative consequences. And the reasons for more heart attacks with lower educational levels is not entirely clear.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from the first week of 2017 on RheumNow.com.

Happy New Year!

Disease Activity Pre-pregnancy During Pregnancy Post-pregnancy
Mild 10 6 4
Moderate 2 6 8
Severe 2 2 2

Several important lines of population and large cohort research have shown that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have a substantially higher risk for myocardial infarction and major cardiovascular events.

The current online edition of JAMA examines the evidence from 27 clinical trials and 1767 patients to assess the impact of intra-articular corticosteroids in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

There are more than 11 million proton pump inhibitor (PPI) prescriptions written each year in the United States. While these agents have dramatically changed the management and outcome of upper gastrointestinal (GI) erosive and inflammatory disorders, their use has not been without safety concerns.

Colitis onset or worsening inflammatory bowel disease has been reported with either of the new IL-17 inhibitors, ixekizumab (IXE) and secukinumab (SEC). Large database studies show these to be rare.

Eli Lilly and Company announced last friday that the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion, recommending the approval of baricitinib for the treatment of adults with moderate to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (R

Research from Johns Hopkins reports that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with periodontitis exhibited patterns of autoantigen hypercitrullination similar to that seen in RA. Results published in Science Translational Medicine showed that Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans can produce hypercitrullination of patient neutrophils, indicating its possible role in triggering RA. (Citation source: http://buff.ly/2hZTBG8)

Osteoporosis is a major public health problems and is associated with a high burden of fractures and subsequent increased mortality.

Gastrointestinal perforation is a rare but serious complication that RA patients may be at particular risk for.