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Opening Day Report
The opening of ACR2 Convergence was a hit for all who signed up and viewed in. The day included the presidential address by outgoing president Dr. David Karp (UT Southwestern) and a keynote talk and interview with Dr. Seema Yasmin (Stanford).
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Treat-to-Target Works in Gout With No Cardiac Toxicity
New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that allopurinol and febuxostat may effectively lower urate levels when used in a treat-to-target approach. Importantly, both urate-lowering therapies were very effective with 90% of patients reaching target urate levels. Additionally, both appeared safe, with no evidence of increased cardiovascular toxicity (Abstract #1900).
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Industry Abstract Previews #ACR21 - Horizon, Aurinia, AstraZeneca
The pharmaceutical companies will feature the results of their pivotal clinical trials and data analyses at ACR Convergence 2021. Below is a listing of some of their best studies for you to review and look for in the meeting.
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NOR-DRUM Study: TNF Inhibitor Therapeutic Drug Monitoring is Effective
New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that proactive therapeutic drug monitoring, a newer treatment strategy where a patient’s drug serum levels are regularly assessed to adjust the dose and intervals, controlled disease more effectively than standard therapy with infliximab, a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor.
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Infection Rates in Psoriatic Arthritis Patients on Biologics Have Decreased
New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows significant decreases in infections among people with psoriatic arthritis over the years 2012-2017.
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Rituximab Patients May Benefit from Third COVID-19 Vaccine Dose
New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows immunocompromised patients using rituximab (a drug used to treat diseases like rheumatoid arthritis) were able to produce antibodies against COVID-19 (seroconvert) after receiving a t
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Blacks with Systemic Sclerosis May Have More Severe Disease
New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that Black people living with systemic sclerosis may have more severe disease and worse prognosis than patients in other racial or ethnic groups, and these worrying disparities may be driven by several socioeconomic factors (Abstract #1854). This poster will be presented Tuesday morning, November 9, 2021 in the Clinical Poster III (1836–1861) section on Systemic Sclerosis & Related Disorders.
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JAK-pot Study: Cycling JAK Inhibitors Effective in Difficult-to-Treat RA
New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that people with difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis who do not have success with one Janus kinase inhibitor (JAK inhibitor) can achieve success either cycling to other JAKi medic
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Ultra-Low Dose Rituximab Controls Disease Activity in RA
New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that in one study, the majority of rheumatoid arthritis patients on an ultra-low dose of the drug rituximab maintained low disease activity for up to four years, and rarely needed to switch to other biologic drugs or glucocorticoids to control their disease (Abstract #1443).
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Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events - ASCO Guideline
The American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc (ASCO) has updated its guidelines and recommendations for the management of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICPi) therapy. Below are select statements from this guideline.
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Large GWAS Study Reveals Genetic Basis for Osteoarthritis Phenotypes
Cell has published the results of a multinational, GWAS meta-analyses of 826,690 individuals that included 177,517 osteoarthritis patients, finding 52 previously unknown osteoarthritis (OA) genetic risk variants and linking OA genetic risks with joint distribution and pain
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RheumNow Podcast – Like Father, Like Daughter (10.29.2021)
Bad things happen when our patients go into the ICU and it's not always due to the disease. Good things happen when we rise from sitting. And guess what? Rheumatologists are setting cardiology straight about hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. This, and a special recognition of parent-child rheumatologists, along with the news and articles from this week on RheumNow.
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Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Biologic Use and the Risk of Serious Infection in Psoriasis Patients
National Health Data from France examined biologic use in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, and found the risk of serious infections (SIE) to be increased with some biologics (infliximab and adalimumab), but not others (etanercept, ustekinumab IL-17 and IL-23 inhibitors or apremila
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BEAT-LUPUS: Sequential Belimumab After Rituximab in SLE
The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that targeting B-cells in refractory systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with sequential belimumab after rituximab may significantly reduce dsDNA antibody titers and lessen the number of future severe flares.
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Rheumatoid Arthritis Thrombotic Risk Influenced by DMARD Choice
RA patients have an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) related to disease activity and inflammation, yet a large real-world study of older RA patients shows methotrexate to be associated with a 2-fold increased VTE risk (compared to hydroxychloroquine).
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Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections Fail in Ankle Osteoarthritis
A controlled trial of intra-articular platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections into the ankle of osteoarthritis (OA) patients failed to improve ankle symptoms and function when compared to placebo injections - yet another trial showing that intraarticular injections are seldom beneficial.
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Pfizer/Lilly Pull Tanezumab Development
Today, Lilly and Pfizer announced their global clinical development of the NGF inhibitor, tanezumab, has been discontinued due to recent negative opinions from the EMA and FDA advisory committee.
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New Hope for NonAlcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
The current issue of the NEJM has two articles on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD also called NASH - nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), one dealing with the prognoses, outcomes and mortality of NAFLD and another prospective and promising interventional trial in NASH patients.
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How Should Patients With Autoimmune Diseases Approach COVID Vaccination?
Healthcare is a personal and individualized relationship between a provider and patient. Each patient is treated according to their particular symptoms and personal health characteristics.
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