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Is Early Use of TNFi in Spondyloarthritis Overkill or a Necessity?
Axial SpA (axSpA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that includes AS and non-radiographic axSpA (nr-axSpA).
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Monitoring of Novel Therapies in Rheumatology
The rheumatology therapeutic landscape has changed almost yearly in the last 15 years, with the introduction of at least 16 biologic or novel agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), spondyloarthritis (SpA), juvenile arthritis,
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Adalimumab FDA Approved for Hidradenitis Suppurativa
Abbvie announced on 9/10/15 that adalimumab (Humira) has been FDA approved for the treatment of moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and is now the first and only FDA-approved therapy for adults with HS.
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Shingles Vaccine Not Cost-Effective in Those Under 60
The herpes zoster (HZ- shingles) vaccine was FDA approved for use in individuals over age 50 years. However, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended it only be used in those over age 60 years.
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Serious Infections Increased in Etanercept-Treated Juvenile Arthritis Patients
UK researchers set out to study medically significant infections (MSI) in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients enrolled in the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology Etanercept Cohort Study (BSPAR-ETN).
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Hospitalized Infections are Higher with the Second Biologic
Using Medicare claims data on 189,326 RA patients, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham examined the rates of hospitalized infections in previously biologic-treated RA patients and compared rates in cohorts starting new treatment with etanercept, adalimumab, certolizum
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Amgen Agrees to $71 Million Settlement over Enbrel & Aranesp Promotion
Based on potentiallly off-label promotion of blockbuster drugs Aranesp and Enbrel, Amgen has agreed to a $71 million settlement with 48 states and the District of Columbia.
Read ArticleLegionella Outbreak in NYC
An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease has killed four people and sickened 65 in the Bronx section of New York City since July 10, according to New York City health officials. This Legionnaires' outbreak is now more than five times the number of cases recorded in the last outbre
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DSB Reports & Updates – July 2015
FDA Scours the Internet for Safety Signals. A Bloomberg News report shows how the FDA is using Google or Yahoo keyword searches to identify new safety signals or drug interactions, often more than a year before they were brought to light by the FDA based on prior methodologies de
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The Use of Non-TNF Biologic Treatments in Uveitis Reviewed
A systematic review of treatments used in autoimmune chronic uveitis after failure of DMARDs and at least one TNF inhibitor identified few patients (12 children and 34 adults), and few trials examining rituximab (3), abatacept (3), tocilizumab (3), and 1 each with alemtuzumab and anakin
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Guselkumab Tops Adalimumab in Psoriasis Trial
NEJM reports a 52 week, phase II trial in 293 adult patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis (>10 BSA) who were randomized to receive either placebo, adalimumab or guselkumab - a novel IL-23 inhibitor.
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Neurologic Events with TNF Inhibitor Therapy
Demyelinating disorders are an uncommon complication of TNF inhibition and have been described with all TNF inhibitors but also with other biologics.
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Adalimumab Drug Levels Predict Efficacy
In a prospective study of 311 rheumatoid arthritis patients starting either adalimumab (ADA) or etanercept, investigators sought to correlate drug levels and/or anti-drug antibodies with clinical outcomes (citation source http://url.ie/z237).
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TNF inhibitors in Early Axial SpA Spares NSAID Use
In a 2 year follow-up of the DESIR cohort of patients with early inflammatory back pain (627 patients), TNF inhibitor use was associated with a significantly greater decrease in the median NSAID intake (from 54.9 to 1.9 in TNFi pts versus from 41.9 to 22.3 in non-TNFi pts, p0.05).
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Ustekinumab Efficacy in Psoriatic Arthritis: 2 Year SUMMIT Trial Results
615 adults with active PsA were randomized to ustekinumab (45mg group or 90mg group) or placebo with crossover at 24 weeks.
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Utility of Drug Levels and Anti-Drug Antibodies When Starting TNF inhibitors
A prospective cohort of 331 patients tested for anti-adalimumab (n=160) and anti-etanercept (n-171) antibodies after initiation of their TNF inhibitor therapy.
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Adherence to ETN/MTX is Greater Than Triple DMARD Therapy
Rheumatoid management hinges on choosing your best therapies first.
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Australia Allows Pharmacy Substitution with Biosimilars Without Notice
Biosimilars are copies of the biologic medicines used to treat inflammatory and immunologic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer- potentially at lower costs.
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NICE Judges Apremilast Less Cost Effective than TNF Inhibitors
The National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence has turned down Otezla for coverage under the U.K. healthcare system for psoriatic arthritis.
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Frequency of Infliximab Infusion Reactions
A Canadian registry shows that in community-based infusion clinics, infusion reactions to IFX are uncommon and mild to moderate in nature.
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