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RheumNow ACR Week in Review: ACR Wrap-Up (10.26.18)
This past week in Chicago gave us a plethora of new and eye-opening research, people, KOLs, exhibits, sessions, guidelines, posters and a never-ending supply of coffee served in small paper cups. ACR 2018 highlights for me included:
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NSAIDs OK for Certain High-Risk Groups?
Some patients typically contraindicated for prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use may be able to take them with no increased risk of harm, according to a large observational study.
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Allopurinol Shown to be Renal Protective
Neogi and colleagues have shown that standard doses of allopurinol (300 mg/day) were associated with a 13% lower risk of renal function deterioration in chronic gout patients - thus, allopurinol does not appear to impair renal function over time.
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Anxiety and Depression are Common in Arthritis Patients
The high prevalence of symptoms of anxiety and depression among adults with arthritis warrants awareness, screening, and subsequent treatment of these conditions.
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RheumNow Week in Review – Vitamin D Falls Again (10.4.18)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Vitamin D Fails to Improve Bone Health
The current edition of Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology suggests that neither vitamin D supplementation, nor dose, will improve bone density or prevent fractures in adults.
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Activity Trackers May be Helpful in Arthritis Patients
Use of wearable activity trackers was associated with increases in the number of daily steps among individuals with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disorders, a meta-analysis found.
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Zolendronic Acid Benefits Elder Women with Osteopenia
The NEJM reports that zolendronic acid was shown to significantly lower the risk of nonvertebral or vertebral fragility fractures in older women with osteopenia.
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Does Gender Make a Difference in Axial Spondyloarthritis
Males and females can both be affected by axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). A recent study shows that while there are some differences and similarities, HLA-B27 and imaging are still pivotal elements for diagnosis of axSpA in both genders.
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Long-Term Efficacy of Canakinumab in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Only inhibitors of IL-1 (canakinumab) and IL-6 (tocilizumab) are FDA approved for use in children with systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA). Now, long-term data from the extension studies from two phase III studies shows that canakinumab yields long-term improvements with reduced glucocorticoid dosing with no new safety findings with long-term use.
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Defining Refractory Rheumatoid Arthritis
Researchers from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics (BSRBR) set out to define under what circumstances will rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients manifest biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) refractory disease.
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RheumNow Week in Review – I Wanna New Drug (9.28.18)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week on RheumNow.com, including news on inappropriate opioids, pre-clinical RA treatment, DMARDs in Gout, the decline of arthroscopy, and a pain in the mouth.
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Ustekinumab May be Effective in Lupus
Ronald F van Vollenhoven and colleagues have reported in Lancet that ustekinumab (UST), an interleukin-12 and -23 inhibitor, when added to usual therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, was shown to be superior to placebo at improving clinical efficacy and laboratory param
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Unproven But Profitable Stem Cell Clinics
Stem cell clinics are popular and proliferating as they are largely a cash business and fall outside of FDA regulatory control. In lieu of scientific proof, most advocates use patient testimonials and the placebo effect to back up their claims.
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Treat-to-Target in RA: No Increase in AEs
Implementing a treat-to-target approach for the care of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) did not result in an increase in adverse events or resource use, a post-hoc analysis of a randomized trial showed.
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FDA's Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Finalized
In response to the growing opioid crisis, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the final Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), designed to reduce the risk of abuse, misuse, addiction, overdose, and deaths due to prescription opioid analgesics.
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Quarterly Canakinumab Reduces Gout Risk Without Affecting Uric Acid
The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that interleukin-1 (IL-1) inhibitor treatment is associated with a reduced risk of gout attacks - such are the findings of an anlysis of the CANTOS study previously reported at the Annual ACR 2017 meeting in Washington, DC.
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Biologic Therapies Improve Work Outcomes in Spondyloarthritis
A study from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register in Axial Spondyloarthritis (BSRBR-AS) shows that biologic use significantly improves work productivity and overall activity impairment.
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BMS Tyk 2 Inhibitor Benefits Psoriasis
The NEJM reports that an oral selecive Tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor of TYK2 was shown to be superior to placebo in a 12 week trial in patients with active psoriasis.
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Out of Pocket Costs for Biosimilars - No Savings So Far
JAMA has published an analysis showing that under Medicare Part D, RA biosimilar infliximab-dyyb was only moderately less expensive (18% less) than the biologic infliximab and, owing to differences in gap discounts, the out of pocket costs for the biosimilar was nearly $1700 more than infliximab
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