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HHS, FDA & CDC Joint Recommendation on COVID Booster
Today, public health and medical experts from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the following statement on the Administration’s plan for COVID-19 booster shots for the American people.
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Tocilizumab in Refractory Skin and Joint Scleroderma
The interleukin-6 inhibitor, tocilizumab (TCZ), was studied in a cohort of difficult systemic sclerosis (SSc) and was shown to be effective in refractory joint and skin disease with good long-term retention rates and disease stabilization.
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Inflammatory Arthritis Impairs Male Fertility
A new study in Annals of Rheumatic Disease shows that inflammatory arthritis (IA) may impair male fertility, especially during the peak reproductive age when lower fertility rates, higher childlessness rates and more fertility problems were seen.
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ACR Update on Tocilizumab Shortages
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) is actively engaged with the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) drug shortage team as they work with the manufacturer to resolve current shortages of tocilizumab (Actemra).
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Non-Serious Infection Risk with Biologics in RA
Nonserious infections (NSI) comprise the bulk of all infections seen with biologic therapies; new data from British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register for Rheumatoid Arthritis shows that while NSI are more common than serious infections, the predictors of NSI are the same as serious infections.
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What Factors Predict RA in First-Degree Relatives?
Among a cohort of first-degree relatives of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), certain patient characteristics, as well as symptoms, helped predict a possible increased risk for developing the disease, U.K. researchers reported.
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Booster Shots for Rheumatology Patients on Immunosuppressive Medications
ATLANTA – The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices today recommended that rheumatology patients being actively treated with high-dose corticosteroids, alkylating agents, antimetabolites, TNF blockers, and other biologic agents that are immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory receive a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
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RheumNow Podcast – Booster Shots for COVID (8.13.2021)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Anakinra's Effects on COVID-19 Outcomes
Sporadic reports of anakinra use in COVID-19 infection has hinted is potential; now a metanalysis shows that the use of anakinra may reduce the mortality risk in patients admitted to hospital with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia, especially highly elevated ferritin and C-reactive prote
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COVID Vaccine Booster Effective for Transplant Recipients in Small Trial
For organ transplant recipients, a third dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine more than tripled the proportion with a sufficient antibody response, a randomized trial showed.
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Biologics Reduce Surgical Needs in RA
In Canada, biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) were introduced after 2001, and since that time there have been significant reductions in hip and knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but not in patients with osteoarthritis (OA).
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Rare Risk of Serious Adverse Events After COVID Vaccination
The CDC had reported the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) study of rare serious adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination and assert that the excessive morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 (and the protection afforded by vaccination) far exceeds the risk of rare safety signals
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Early MRI Sacroiliac Improvement with JAK Inhibition
The TORTUGA trial tested filgotinib, a JAK1 inhibitor, in active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients and was shown to be both effective and capable of retarding sacroiliac (SI) joint erosions as early as 12 weeks.
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Safety and Tolerability of Subcutaneous Methotrexate
A large, single-rheumatology center analysis of oral and subcutaneous (SC) methotrexate (MTX) use in daily clinical practice suggests that SC MTX has fewer drug discontinuations and is better tolerated compared to other DMARD therapies.
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Rheumatic Flares Uncommon After COVID Vax
Post-vaccination disease flares were uncommon among patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases who were inoculated against COVID-19, researchers found.
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Multimorbidity Impairs Responses in Rheumatoid Arthritis
A retrospective analysis of the ACR RISE registry shows that multimorbidity is not only common in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but also impacts treatment choices and outcomes.
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CRESS – A New Composite Measure for Primary Sjögren's Syndrome
Randomized clinical trials in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) are fraught with fault and inconclusive outcome measures, including the more recently developed EULAR Sjögren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index (ESSDAI). There's a new composite endpoint outcome for RCTs in pSS, called the Composite of Relevant Endpoints for Sjögren's Syndrome (CRESS).
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Rheumatoid Arthritis Offspring Show Normal School Performance
A prospective, longitudinal study of the cognitive development of children born to mothers with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) demonstrates normal development as measured by comparative school test scores.
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FDA Approves Anifrolumab in SLE
AstraZeneca announced today that anifrolumab (Saphnelo or anifrolumab-fnia) was approved by the the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for that treatment of adult patients with moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who are receiving standard therapy.
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RheumNow Podcast – Psoriatic Arthritis Without Psoriasis (7.30.2021)
How much psoriasis do you need to have in order to have psoriatic arthritis? This plus a review of rheumatology and COVID news from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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