At EULAR 2015, Brouwer and colleagues reported on their cohort of 162 evaluable pregnancies in 239 Dutch women enrolled during 2002-2010 in the nationwide Pregnancy-Induced Amelioration of Rheumatoid Arthritis (PARA) study – a large prospective cohort of pregnant RA patients.

According to the CDC, between 4300 and 9700 children under the age of 16 are diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis each year - the cause of which is unknown.

FDA Scours the Internet for Safety Signals. A Bloomberg News report shows how the FDA is using Google or Yahoo keyword searches to identify new safety signals or drug interactions, often more than a year before they were brought to light by the FDA based on prior methodologies de

The MedWatch June 2015 safety labeling changes were published yesterday, and updated the warnings for Xeljanz (tofacitinib). "The risk of herpes zoster is increased in patients treated with Xeljanz and appears to be higher in patients treated with Xeljanz in Japan."

Defects in protein citrullination and its consequences in patients with RA have been studied widely in the recent decade. It appears that autoantibodies, including those against citrullinated proteins, are of diagnostic and prognostic relevance.

FDA announced yesterday they would strengthen warnings  stating that non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs increase the chance of a heart attack or stroke. This applies to both prescription and OTC NSAIDs.

The anti-citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP or ACPA) antibody assay has a specificity of greater than 90% for rheumatoid arthritis and is associated with worse articular outcomes.

Demyelinating disorders are an uncommon complication of TNF inhibition and have been described with all TNF inhibitors but also with other biologics. 

In a prospective study of 311 rheumatoid arthritis patients starting either adalimumab (ADA) or etanercept, investigators sought to correlate drug levels and/or anti-drug antibodies with clinical outcomes (citation source http://url.ie/z237).

Systematic review of the literature examined whether obesity is associated with a higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis (citation source http://url.ie/z1y6) and found that obese individuals (BMI > 30) are at 

A prospective cohort of 331 patients tested for anti-adalimumab (n=160) and anti-etanercept (n-171) antibodies after initiation of their TNF inhibitor therapy.

Rheumatoid management hinges on choosing your best therapies first.

1998 marked the introduction of citrulline as a unique target in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. The hallmark article by Schellekens et al in the Journal of Clinical Investigation has since been cited over 500 times.  Dr.

Cardiovascular (CV) risk and adverse cardiac outcomes are common in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It has been presumed that chronic systemic inflammation has a deleterious effect on the myocardium and vasculature, thereby leading to higher rates of MI, CHF and CV death.

A large Swedish cohort study of hypertensive men and women presented at the 25th Scientific Meeting of the European Society of Hypertension, identitied a protective effect on osteoporotic fractures among current users of thiazide diuretic drugs independent of blood pressure level.  This retr

A Canadian registry shows that in community-based infusion clinics, infusion reactions to IFX are uncommon and mild to moderate in nature.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic and the NIH have determined that solar cycles and geomagnetic effects may account for the incidence of RA and PMR.

Between 2010 and 2013, $95 billion in branded pharmaceutical patents will have expired, leading to significantly higher sales opportunities for those manufacturing generics and biosimilars.

These abstracts and presentations were presented 12 June at the EULAR 2015 annual meeting.

EULAR 2015 started the afternoon of Wednesday June 10th.