The American College of Rheumatology released summaries of two new guidelines for the Screening and Monitoring of Interstitial Lung Disease in People with Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease and for the Treatment of Interstitial Lung Disease in People with Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases.

The IL-23 inhibitor guselkumab was studied in active psoriatic arthritis patients in the phase 3b COSMOS trial, and shown to be clinically effective while reducing multiple effector cytokines, including those associated with the IL-23/IL-17 pathway.

Despite being in a state of remission or low disease activity state, in patients with axial spondyloarthritis, up to 42% may still have residual disease.

The safety of abatacept was studied using patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from 7 European registers, revealing safety signals on par with that previously reported with no new safety concerns. 

In 2023, three marketed biosimilars (Actemra, Stelara, Humira) had their patents expire, opening opportunities for multiple new biosimilars; but with competition comes a word salad of new drug names, confusion and nonsensical discounts.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the wonderful wide world of Rheumatology. This week:

In research published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, investigators developed and validated a tool called PRESTO that identif

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) said it has already joined with hundreds of organizations to submit 26 health policy comment letters to federal officials this year—surpassing the 24 letters the College submitted in 2022.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.  This week highlights Veterans, Vegetarians and Antenatal Corticosteroids.

The Annals of Internal Medicine has published a predictive score to distinguish low-risk from high-risk inflammatory arthritis (IA) and who may benefit from risk stratification and preventive measures.

IL-23 inhibitors are approved for the treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis; a single center real-world observational study shows three commercially available IL-23 inhibitors have high and similar drug survival and effectiveness in difficult-to-treat psoriasis and PsA.

A EULAR/American College of Rheumatology task force has established evidence based, up-to-date guidance and expert opinion on the evaluation, management and monitoring of patients with Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), with the primary intent to halt disease progression and prevent life-threatening complications from HLH/MAS.

Large scale analysis of adverse events (AEs) in World Health Organization (WHO) VigiAccess database showed no new safety signals associated with long-standing use of five TNFα inhibitors. 

A cohort analysis shows that gout patients initiating sodium–glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) had lower serum urate levels and fewer gouty flares requiring emergency department (ED) visits or hospitalizations.

A UK registry study of moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients showed that treatment with rituximab or belimumab was not associated with a greater risk of serious infection, when compared to standard of care therapy.

U1RNP complex, Ro/SSA and La/SSB are major RNA-containing autoantigens associated with autoimmune disorders. Immune complexes (ICs) composed of RNA-containing autoantigens and autoantibodies are suspected to be involved in the pathogenesis of some systemic autoimmune diseases.

In 2018, Park et al showed optimal responses to influenza vaccination in RA patients was best achieved by holding methotrexate for 2 weeks following immunization, with improved humoral responses. Now, a followup trial suggests that equivalent results are had by holding MTX for only 1 week with the "flu" vaccine.

The transition from psoriasis to PsA – and the early diagnosis of PsA – is of considerable scientific and clinical interest. People typically have psoriatic skin disease for a decade or more before they begin to experience the joint involvement of PsA.

Dr. Jack Cush Reviews the news and journal reports on CVA, TKA, PJP, ADA, and more!