The oral Janus kinase 1 inhibitor filgotinib is available worldwide, but not in the USA, where the FDA held up its approval for use in RA due to unfinished studies of filgotinib's effects on sperm cells.  The results of 2 phase two studies (MANTA and MANTA-RAy) confirm that filgotinib has no measurable impact on semen parameters or sex hormones in men with active IBD or inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

Monitoring for antidrug antibodies with biologic has not been routine in rheumatology but a new study suggests that antidrug antibodies correlate with nonresponse to bDMARDs in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

Treatment with at least some biologic drugs significantly reduced 1-year progression of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) relative to classical small-molecule agents, researchers reported.

Do abatacept, cenicriviroc, or infliximab improve time to recovery for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia compared with standard care?

A phase 3 trial assessed a selective Janus kinase 1/2-inhibitor, baricitinib, in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), demonstrating it's efficacy and safety compared to placebo.

Cerebrovascular ischemic events (CIE) can be one of the most severe complications of giant cell arteritis (GCA), but is seen in 4-5% of GCA patients according to a recent French University Hospital. 

A safety analysis of six phase III SELECT trials showed that higher-risk rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients had an increased risk of MACE, malignancy (excluding NMSC) and venous thromboembolic events (VTE) regardless of being treated with either upadacitinib (UPA) or adalimumab (ADA).

Safety outcomes for targeted synthetic or biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/ts DMARDs) used to treat RA were studied using data from the Anti-Rheumatic Therapies in Sweden (ARTIS) registry, showing that these newer agents are largely similar, but still have particular differences for specific infection or other adverse event risks.

GRAPPA has provided new, evidence based updates to the management of enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), affecting at least 30% of PsA patients and is associated with more severe disease, x-ray damage, and poorer outcomes. 

The hallmark of systemic sclerosis is scleroderma, but less than 10% of SSc patients have sine scleroderma (ssSSc). A EUSTAR database review compared the manifestations and outcomes of ssSSC to limited cutaneous SSc and diffuse cutaneous SSc.

During nintedanib treatment for interstitial lung disease associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc-ILD), clinicians prescribing the drug should be watchful for an unusual, indirect side effect, trial data suggested.

Editor's Note: please note the error in the original report has been corrected to read: UCB affirms there are no open information requests from the FDA regarding the BLA for bimekizumab or bimekizumab manufacturing.

A multicenter cohort study reported a large cohort of pediatric patients receiving TNF inhibitor therapy complicated by psoriasis, regardless of treatment indication or the specific TNF inhibitor.

A phase 2 trial has demonstrated the efficacy of secukinumab, an anti-interleukin-17A monoclonal antibody, in patients with active giant cell arteritis (GCA).

Treatment advances with new biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs), targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs) and biosimilar DMARDs (bsDMARDs) have proven efficacy and safety; but does their increased cost yield commensurate benefits in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and high disease activity?

A multinational registry analysis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving abatacept (ABA) has shown that the safety profile of ABA remains unchanged with no new or increased risks of infection or malignancy.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com, including new drug approval, a new SpA variant and new rules for methotrexate (MTX) monitoring and depression screening. 

A systematic review and meta-analysis in JAMA Network Open has shown that biosimilars of adalimumab, infliximab, and etanercept were associated with clinically equivalent treatment effects compared with their reference biologics for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlight abstracts and sessions - covering lupus, RA, gout, Still's disease, safety data, AI in medicine and more - from last week's EULAR 2023 Congress held in Milan, Italy.

Day 4 was a half day closeout to the EULAR 2023 Congress.