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Variations in First Biologic Use in Rheumatoid Arthritis
A Canadian analysis shows that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are more likely to receive biologic DMARDs earlier if they are younger, female, and living in urban areas closer to prescribers.
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BMS and Celgene Merge as Amgen Buys Otezla
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has completed its $74 billion acquisition of Celgene. With the acquisition complete, Celgene is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of BMS. The combined companies have nine products with more than $1 billion in annual sales.
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Mallinckrodt Receives SEC Subpoena
Reuters reports that Mallinckrodt Plc has received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for documents related to the drugmaker’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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RheumNow Podcast – Ghastly, Ghoulish News (10.31.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews recent journal articles and info bits from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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The Global Burden of Rheumatoid Arthritis 2017
The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors study (GBD) from 2017 analyzed the burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for 195 countries between 1990 to 2017 and surmised that RA is a major global public health challenge, with increasing prevalence and incidence rates.
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The Shame Behind Adalimumab Biosimilars
JAMA has an article this week on the shift from biologic drugs to less expensive therapeutic biosimilar agents. The impact of biosimilars can be easily represented by the shift from adalimuamb - a biologic with nearly $19 billion in sales in 2018 - to any one of the four FDA approved biosimilars for adalimumab (see the daily download for slides on new adalimumab and other biosimilars).
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RheumNow Podcast – The Shoes Maketh the Doctor (10.25.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Patients Prefer Nurse Led Care for their Gout
Despite the well known, well publicized treat-to-target (T2T) goal of a serum uric acid (SUA) level 6 mg/dl, this goal is seldom achieved ( 40%) in clinical practice and patient adherence has been unacceptably low. A recent study shows that nurse-led care led to better outcomes in gout including patient acceptability, long-term adherence, and less flares.
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FDA Approves Ustekinumab for Ulcerative Colitis
Ustekinumab (Stelara) is now FDA-approved to treat moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis, said drugmaker Janssen on Monday, in addition to its indications for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Crohn's disease.
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One-Third of Psoriatic Arthritis Patients Will Need Joint Surgery
Dannish study has shown that one-third of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) will have joint surgery that that PsA patients have twice the rate of joint surgery when compared with the general population.
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Stress and the Risk of Incident Inflammatory Arthritis
A prospective analysis of newly diagnosed, inflammatory arthritis (IA) patients suggests that perceived distress (stress) increases the odds of incident IA.
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RheumNow Podcast – When You’re Hot You’re Hot (10.11.19)
Dr. Jack Cush delivers select commentary on select news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Long Delays for Inflammatory Arthritis Patients
The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society's (NRAS) annual audit has identified significant treatment delays for patients with suspected early inflammatory arthritis could result in unnecessary harm.
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Biologics Lead the Way in Drug Price Increases
Reuters has reported the results of a recent Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) analysis showing that biologics, especially Humira and Rituxan, are leading the way in the cost of drugs in the USA.
All told, Humira and Rituxan topped a list of seven treatments whose combined 2017 and 2018 price hikes accounted for a $5.1 billion increase in U.S. drug spending. ICER said their analysis points to price hikes that were more than twice the rate of medical inflation and were not warranted by any new clinical evidence.
FUTURE 5 - Secukinumab and Less Radiographic Progression in Psoriatic Arthritis
The FUTURE 5 trial studied the effect of secukinumab (SEC) on radiographic progression through 52 weeks in patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and found that SEC was clinically and radiographically superior to placebo (PBO).
Patients received s.c. secukinumab 300 mg load (300 mg), 150 mg load (150 mg), 150 mg no load regimens or placebo at baseline, at weeks 1, 2 and 3 and every 4 weeks starting at week 4. The majority (87%) of patients enrolled at baseline remained in the study for 52 weeks.
Antibiotics Increase Rheumatoid Risk - Again
Another UK study has suggested that prior use of antibiotics increases the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
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RheumNow Podcast – Women Take Over Rheumatology (10.4.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the News and Journal Reports from this week on RheumNow.com.
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Anakinra Use in Hospitalized Gout Patients
While the efficacy and safety of interleukin 1 (IL-1) inhibitors (e.g., anakinra) in the acute management of gout and pseudogout has been repeatedly shown, the cost efficacy of such biologic therapy has rendered it impractical for most. A new retrospective study has shown that IL-1 inhibitors may be effective and appropriate for some medically complex, hospitalized patients with acute gout or calcium pyrophosphate crystal arthritis.
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ACR Responds to CY2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule
Rheumatology leaders commend CMS for proposing E/M code changes and urge agency to make additional changes to final rule.d
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RheumNow Podcast – Believe in Vitamin D or Rituximab? (9.20.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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