Curbside Consults are cases submitted by our rheumatology colleagues as challenging therapeutic or safety issues. Answers are based on experience, with added evidence from the medical literature and published guidelines.

Infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in RA patients and thus vaccinating against preventable infections is a top priority for rheumatologists.

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

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.

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.

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

The 2017 Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has been awarded to a Japanese scientists and two American scientists for their discovery and research on T regulatory cells (TRegs).

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!

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)

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

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from this week on RheumNow.com

Combe and leading European rheumatologist have published an update to the 2007 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for management of early arthritis.

While it is known that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with interstitial lung involvement is associated with severe seropositive disease and is associated with an increased mortality.