All News
Sustained Effectiveness of mRNA Vaccines Against COVID-19 Hospitalizations
The CDC has reported that mRNA vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19–associated hospitalizations was sustained over 24 weeks; but there is evidence of waning protection amongst the immunosuppressed.
Read Article
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.
Read Article
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).
Read Article
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.
Read Article
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.
Read Article
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
Read Article
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.
Read Article
Mepolizumab Dosing in Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis
A new European real world experience study shows that mepolizumab is effective at both 100 or 300mg every 4 weeks in patients with the rarely encountered eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA; or Churg-Strauss Syndrome).
Read Article
Links:
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
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).
Read Article
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.
Read Article
RheumNow Podcast – Saphnelo (Anifrolumab) Approved for Lupus (8.6.2021)
It was a banner week at the FDA; a new drug approval you should know about; a lot of information about pregnancy and safety; and an interesting case plus a question from one of our readers submitted via Back Talk. This and more in this week's podcast. Let's dive in.
Read Article
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.
Read Article
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.
Read Article
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).
Read Article
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.
Read Article
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.
Read Article
Links:
Shingles Risk with JAK Inhibitors and Other Biologics
Registry data suggests an increased risk of herpes zoster (HZ, shingles) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients taking JAK inhibitors (JAKi) but also with other biologic DMARDs, compared to csDMARDs.
Read Article
No Cancer Risk with TNF Inhibitors in Rheumatoid Arthritis
The ARTIS Study Group has published their analysis of (non-skin) cancer risk in rheumatoid arthritis, claiming the overall safety of biologic DMARDs and targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs).
Read Article