Biosimilar reports is an ongoing series dedicated to advances, discussions and developments in biosimilar agents intended for use by rheumatologists. Many of these items were compiled from news sources, journal articles and regulatory documents and are cited and linked within each section.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews this week's news and information from the 2017 RWCS meeting in Maui.

As a musculoskeletal radiologist, I work every day with rheumatologists. I have been in practice for approximately 17 years and had a musculoskeletal radiology fellowship prior to establishing my practice.

Poorer and less-educated older Americans are more likely to suffer from chronic pain than those with greater wealth and more education, but the disparity between the two groups is much greater than previously thought, according to new research.

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.

A JAMA article presents the US Public Health Task Force review of OSA testing.

A study published in The BMJ shows that financial ties between researchers and companies that make the drugs they are studying are independently associated with positive trial results; thereby questioning the bias in these objective trials.

Elderly patients treated with high doses of corticosteroids are bound to have multiple medical problems. But this was only recently quantified by researchers analyzing a a population-based cohort of biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients in Southern Sweden.

Is being a “weekend warrior” and cramming the recommended amount of weekly physical activity into one or two sessions associated with lower risks for death?

A new article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that compared with inactive adults, weekend warriors who performed the recommended amount of 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous activity in one or two sessions per week had lower risks for death from all causes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer.

Jennsen et al previously reported their findings regarding weight reductions ability to improve cutaneous psoriasis at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) meeting in 2015, Now their results are published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Do hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries treated by female internists have lower rates of 30-day mortality and hospital readmission than those patients treated by men? A new study published online by JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that they do.

Combustible and smokeless tobacco use causes adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease and multiple types of cancer. Cigarette consumption in the United States has declined overall since the 1960s, but consumption of other tobacco products has not.

A study by the American College of Physicians (ACP) found that physicians continue to prescribe treatments that offer little benefit to patients, despite the advice of clinical guidelines.

The EXXELERATE study is featured prominently in Lancet this week. In some ways, this represents a landmark negative trial that rheumatologists should review and be aware of.

You should use this information to not only fend for yourself, but to more accurately guide trainees into a richly rewarding specialty that pays well and has many distinctions to boast of, including high science, hands-on patient interactions and long-term relationships, great hours, lifestyle and family friendly careers. Our field is in desperate need of high quality, problem-solving practitioners.

For me and many others, this is the Super Bowl of meetings. I haven’t missed an ACR meeting since I started going as a fellow in 1984. In this span of 30 years I have acquired insights on how to navigate such a big meeting. When I say big, I mean over 14,000 attendees from over 100 countries swarming throughout a convention center that has the elements of the Texas state fair, a gigantic Costco (on Saturday), and a sold-out concert.

The International Osteoporosis Foundation has established the Chronic Inflammation and Bone Structure (CIBS) Working Group to address bone loss in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the role of biologic therapies. They conclude that early and aggressive treatment with biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs will help prevent progressive bone loss in patients with RA.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights, news and journal reports from this week at RheumNow.com

Low back pain (LBP) is the fifth most common reason for all physician visits in the United States and nearly 25% of all U.S. adults have had LBP in the  last 3 months and nearly 6% reported at least 1 episode of severe acute low back pain in the last 1-year.

A Wall Street Journal article claims that U.S. drugmakers are pointing the blame at the middlemen who also influence drug priciing.