The PRECISION trial was published this week in the NEJM, presented at the Cardiology meetings in New Orleans, and presented today by Dr. Daniel Solomon at the 2016 ACR annual meeting in Washington, D.C. (citation source http://buff.ly/2fUmoqO)

Big highlights from Monday included the Hench Lecture, plenary session abstracts and presentations on drug safety and cost efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis.

It is well known that ANCA-associated vasculitides can be hard to control and relapses are common. The choice of maintenance therapy is rather limited and therapies are not always effective.

CORRONA, America's largest registry, has numerous presentations for this year's annual ACR/ARHP meeting. See below for the expanse of efficacy and safety issues covered by CORRONA investigators.

On Monday, November 13, there were two new presentations at the annual ACR 2016 meeting on new biologics seeking approval for use in polyarticular juvenile arthritis.

Dr Cush reviews highlights from this week on RheumNow.com

The PRECISION study will be presented on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 by Dr. Elaine Husni from the Cleveland Clinic. This report brings to a climax the controversy ignited by the February 2005 3 day FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee review of the safety of the blockbuster COX-2 inhibitors, celecoxib, rofecoxib, and valdecoxib.

At this years 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting Pfizer will presen 20 abstracts, mostly centering around its JAK inhibitor tofacitinib (Xeljanz). They will also present the results of their Phase 3 OPAL studies of tofacitinib in patients with psoriatic arthritis.

Eli Lilly & Co. has multiple presentations planned for the upcoming Annual meeting of the ACR/ARHP in Washington starting on Sunday, November 13th.

Janssen has announced the listings for it's presentations at the upcoming annual ACR/ARHP 2016 meeting in Washington.

The International Osteoporosis Foundation has established the Chronic Inflammation and Bone Structure (CIBS) Working Group to address bone loss in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the role of biologic therapies. They conclude that early and aggressive treatment with biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs will help prevent progressive bone loss in patients with RA.

RA increases CV risk considerably. But whose responsibility is it to manage CV risk in RA patients?

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights and reports from this week on RheumNow.com, including drug-induced cutaneous lupus, pediatric lupus being worse, new gout drug SEL-12, Gut microbiome and IgA plasmablasts, and the weakly-received new ACP guidelines on gout.

The rising incidence of gout has been directly linked to the obesity epidemic.  The influence of obesity on gout was further tested in a cohort study of obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery as part of the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study.

ACP released clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and management of gout. Interestingly, these are not always aligned with the 2012 ACR gout guidelines.

Rituximab (RTX) is a monoclonal antibody directed against the CD20 antigen on B cells and when administered causes a marked depletion of CD20+ B cells.

The Wall Street Journal has reported an alarming trend in generic drug pricing that affects many, especially the elderly and those with arthrtis.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights, news and journal reports from this week at RheumNow.com

This metanalysis from 2013 reports on an important issue for orthopedists and rheumatologists alike. The issue being in those who need bilateral total knee arthroplasty, is it better to do both knees at once or to do one at a time (staged, serial) arthroplasties..

ClinicalTrials.gov has listed the results of the POSTURE study, a large randomized placebo-controlled trial wherein apremilast was found to yield no benefit (compared to placebo) in treating ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (32.5% vs. 36.6% ASAS20 at week 16) patients.