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Big Fat FDA Pink Slip (9.19.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this week on RheumNow.com. Today we cover GLP-1 agonists, acupuncture, what JAKs won’t do & an FDA Pink Slip.
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Did Hydroxychloroquine Reduce COVID-19 Mortality?
A multicenter study investigated the association between hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) dosage and COVID-19 mortality among hospitalized patients from multiple medical centers in China. The analysis focused on dose effects of HCQ on mortality.
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GLP-1 Drugs Reduce Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms
MedPage Today
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who used GLP-1 receptor agonists had less disease activity and improved cardiovascular biomarkers, a small retrospective study indicated.
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Equal Safety of JAK Inhibitors and TNF Inhibitors
JAMA has published a systematic review and meta-analysis of head-to-head studies showing there was no meaningful difference in safety events observed when taking either JAK inhibitor (JAKi) vs TNF antagonist (TNFi) therapies for the treatment of immune-mediated
STOP-RA: Hydroxychloroquine Fails in ACPA+ Arthralgia
Deane et al has published the results of the STOP-RA trial, demonstrating that 12 months of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) did not prevent the development of clinical RA at 36 months.
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SARD-ILD: Significant diagnostic and treatment delays
Should we be screening all our patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease (SARD) for interstitial lung disease?
https://t.co/WyccifEHtY https://t.co/S6X5AhZCjz
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Join us Sept 23 @ 7PM ET for the next Rheum to Breathe Journal Club!
We’ll dive into two pivotal ILD studies:
📄 FIBRONEER (Nerandomilast in PPF) – NEJM 2025
📄 RECITAL (Rituximab vs Cyclophosphamide in CTD-ILD) – Lancet
Panelists: Dr. Toby Maher, Dr. Shervin Assassi
Moderator: https://t.co/l8EkX2hkLs
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
ILD and Mortality in Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases
Dr. Bryant England, Lincoln, NE, discusses interstitial lung disease and mortality in systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs), as part of RheumNow's Rheum to Breathe: ILD campaign, presented throughout the month https://t.co/wtg9Te6oth
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Patient Resource: The Hidden Connection - ILD and Rheumatic Disease
Dr. Iazsmin Bauer Ventura, Chicago, talks about ILD as a window to systemic disease as part of RheumNow's Rheum to Breathe: ILD campaign, presented throughout the month of September 2025. https://t.co/8rJm4O3hHU
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
RA-associated interstitial lung disease or bronchiectasis is assoc w/ increased risk of total and cause-specific mortality. retrospective cohort study using the Mass General Brigham Biobank 221 RA-LD cases (151 RA-ILD, 70 RA-BR). RA-LD higher mortality (34 vs 13/1000PY; HR
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
STOP-RA: Hydroxychloroquine Fails in ACPA+ Arthralgia
Deane et al has published the results of the STOP-RA trial, demonstrating that 12 months of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) did not prevent the development of clinical RA at 36 months.
https://t.co/HLLhwgcVrS https://t.co/MKpeXhVdoe
Links:
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Retrospective study of 201 IPAF (Interstitial pneumonia w/ autoimmune feat.) pts w/ F/U 5.6 yrs. ANA+ 80%, RF+ 25%, CCP+ 14%, 88% Rx w/ IS or antifibrotics. 24% died, 7.5% transplant. Comorbidies were common; mean CCI 3.2; IPAF mortality worsened by
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Commercial claims analysis of 8855 adults w/ axSpA and/or PsA, 1771 who had joint replacements. JAK inhibitor use did not significantly reduce joint replacement (OR 0.67; 0.41–1.08), BUT TNFi, Non-TNFi biologics & DMARD users had signif fewer surgeries (OR ~0.65) vs NSAID users https://t.co/vnBnFcPxGw
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SUA levels & adverse health outcomes? Australian ASPREE trial of 11,878 older participants had baseline SUA measurements. SUA levels had NO ASSOC. w/ all-cause mortality, disability-free survival, CV Dz, MACE, cancer mortality, cognitive decline, or dementia. In females, low SUA https://t.co/VY6NJsetW9
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Hitting the Target: T2T Therapy in SLE
Treat-to-target strategies are not a new concept in rheumatology. It has shown to improve patient outcomes and quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis and is now being increasingly adopted not only in SLE research https://t.co/PfnG0AeJsH
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RCT of 800 adults w/ Chronic LBP, acupuncture (AP) was compared usual care or AP +/- added maintenance found that acupuncture improved pain-related disability at 6 months and 12 months, with no statistically discernible benefit of additional maintenance sessions. https://t.co/suy09fGxxI
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SMART study - Single vs. Split Dose Methotrexate in RA
Split dose weekly, oral methotrexate (MTX) was shown to be superior to single dose MTX in treating active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
https://t.co/JN5wPGNjao https://t.co/lizsrtVHwf
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A framework for treatment stratified approach in CTD-ILD, by Dr Low Hsiu Ling
Based on
-ILD extent
-Risk of progression
-Biology: fibrosis/inflammation
-Safety
-Other manifestations
@RheumNow #APLAR25 https://t.co/ma5KugzBHy
Aurelie Najm AurelieRheumo ( View Tweet)
Drivers of costs associated with economic costs of RMDs in Asia Pacific
-Traditional medicine
-Loss of income much higher if worker as opposed to unpaid household labor so high impact of gender roles
-Impact of out of pocket health payments due to « catastrophic spendings » in https://t.co/sptwGE7J2V
Links:
Aurelie Najm AurelieRheumo ( View Tweet)
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