All News
Opioid Use Ups the Risk of Hospitalized Infections in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Researchers from Vanderbilt University have studied the issue of opioid use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and whether this influences infection risk.
Read Article
SB4 - A Second Biosimilar Up For Review in Europe
A biosimilar of etanercept (Enbrel) made by the South Korean company Samsung Bioepis is under consideration by regulators in the European Union. Samsung Bioepis, a joint venture between Samsung Biologics and Biogen, is taking aim with its version of etanercept.
Read Article
Alcohol and Methotrexate - What Do You Advise?
What are your rules on methotrexate and alcohol use? How about casual, social or occasional alcohol use? If one alcoholic beverage is ok, what about 2, 3 or six while taking MTX?
Read Article
Surviving Infection on DMARDs or Biologics
Sepsis is a dangerous and potentially fatal consequence of serious infections (SIE), particularly in susceptible populations such as the elderly and immunosuppressed. Published evidence points toward the potential role of TNF in development of sepsis.
Read Article
Are Guidelines Worth the Cost?
A thoughtful perspective on the purpose, focus and cost of guideline efforts in rheumatology has been published in the journal Rheumatology.
Is Baricitinib Really Better Than Adalimumab in RA: Trial Results Reviewed
Dr. Peter Taylor and colleagues presented their results of the 52-week BEAM trial wherein baricitinib (a JAK 1, 2 inhibitor) was compared to adalimumab in both clinical and radiographic outcomes. This was the most viewed abstract online at the ACR website.
Read Article
Are We Using Methotrexate Appropriately?
Methotrexate is a mainstay drug in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Yet, we may not be using it long enough or optimizing its use.
Read Article
Improving Cardiovascular Trends in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Myasoedova and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic have reported their new data that demonstrates improving cardiovascular (CV) mortality rates in current RA patients treated with modern drugs.
Read Article
2015 ACR RA Guidelines Released– Finally!
ACR 2015 RA treatment guidelines were published yesterday, nearly a year after they were preliminarily presented at the 2014 ACR meeting in Boston. After a year of review and revision these have been posted.
Read Article
Invokana Decreases Autoimmune Risk
In September, the FDA issued warnings that the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inihibitor Invokana may cause a dose-dependant increased risk of bone fractures. This was based on a review of nin
Read Article
Biosimilars and the FDA
Biosimilars are in the news and will be prominently on parade at next week's ACR meeting in San Francisco. Biosimilars are similar to, but not the same as, innovator biologics.
Read Article
Increasing Risk of Septic Arthritis with Age
A retrospective population-based study from New Zealand examined the epidemiology, clinical features, and microbiology of adult native joint septic arthritis.
Read Article
Repeat Skin Cancer Risk with Methotrexate and Biologics
Using Medicare claims data, a retrospective cohort study analyzed the risk of a second non-melanomatous skin cancer (NMSC) in 9460 individuals (6841 with RA and 2788 with IBD).
Read Article
Study Backs CellCept for ILD in Scleroderma
MONTREAL -- An immunosuppressive drug was as effective as a standard agent for interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with scleroderma, a researcher said.
Read Article
MMP-3 Levels Predict Radiographic Progression in RA
Continuously elevated serum matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) for 3-6 months predicted 1-year radiographic progression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a small prospective cohort study in Arthritis Researc
Read Article
Adalimumab Induction in Early RA Yields Erosive Benefits in the OPERA Study
A number of studies have shown that the treat-to-target approach is effective in achieving clinical remission - the ultimate therapeutic goal in patients with early RA.
Read Article
Bronchiectasis Contributes to Activity and Seropositivity in Rheumatoid Arthritis
UK investigators have shown that rheumatoid arthritis patients with bronchiectasis (BRRA) have a five-fold increased mortality compared to RA without bronchiectasis. It is unclear if serologic differences, activity measures and biomarkers may be different in this cohort.
Read Article
Respiratory and Cardiovascular Mortality Higher in RA Women
Using data from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS), Sparks and colleagues analyzed 119,209 women beginning in 1976. The identified 964 incident RA cases and 28,808 deaths during 36 years of prospective follow-up.
Read Article
Diet, Exercise and Glucosamine Fail to Prevent Knee Osteoarthritis
Primary prevention of osteoarthritis is an ideal goal for which there has been little success in clinical trials.
Read Article
Infertility in Rheumatoid Arthritis Linked to Disease Activity
Women with rheumatoid arthritis are said to have a normal number of pregnancies. However, most of these are conceived prior to the onset of RA. Once diagnosed, the RA patient who wishes to become pregnant may be faced with difficult medication choices if she is planning to become pregnant.
Read Article
