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US Senate Introduces the Safe Step Act
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) today commended leaders in the United States Senate for introducing the bipartisan Safe Step Act of 2021 (S. 464), new legislation that would place reasonable limits on insurer use of step therapy.
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Upadacitinib Clinical Efficacy in Psoriatic Arthritis
McInnes and colleagues have published the results of the SELECT - PsA trial in NEJM showing updacitinib (UPA) to be superior to placebo in active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients, with 15 mg UPA equal to adalimumab (ADA) and 30 mg UPA qd being superior to ADA.
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Inflammatory Conditions Up the Risk of Premature Myocardial Infarction
The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology reports that younger patients with their first myocardial infarction before age 50 yrs have a higher risk of having a systemic inflammatory disease (SIDs) and higher rates all-cause mortality.
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RheumNow Podcast – Infection in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis (3.26.2021)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, FDA Denials and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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FDA Panel Rejects Tanezumab for Osteoarthritis
A two day FDA review by the Drug Safety and Risk Management and Arthritis Advisory Committees has yielded a 19-1 vote against the approval of tanezumab, a nerve growth factor inhibitor, for use in osteoarthritis (OA).
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Future Therapeutics for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lessons Learned - RNL2021 Highlights
In case you missed it, RheumNow Live 2021 delivers what it promises: a good consistent program pack with high energy interactive learning.
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Safety of Paternal DMARD or Biologic Use
A large cohort study of expectant fathers treated for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) failed to show any detrimental effect from paternal exposure to immunosuppressive or biologic agents on offspring outcomes.
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RECIPE Trial - Mycophenolate to Suppress Immunogenicity with Pegloticase in Gout
Pegloticase is indicated in the treatment of severe gout patients but prolonged use may be limited by immunogenicity to the PEG moiety. A randomized, controlled trial has shown that concomitant mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) may prolong the efficacy of pegloticase in gout.
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Rituximab vs. JAK inhibitors in Rheumatoid Lung Disease
There are no current FDA approved therapies for rheumatoid arthritis associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) or bronchiectasis, but a recent retrospective cohort study showed equivalent outcomes when RA-ILD patients were treated with either rituximab or janus kinase inhibitors.
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RheumNow Podcast – Great Associations (3.19.2021)
Dr. Jack Cush rants on the journal reports, news and FDA actions featured this past week on RheumNow.com.
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Potent Topical Corticosteroids and the Risk of Osteoporotic Fractures
JAMA Dermatology has published a Danish national cohort study showing that potent topical corticosteroid use was associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis and major osteoporotic fractures with a dose-response association for cumulative use.
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Enthesitis Responses to Secukinumab in Spondylitis Patients
Schett and colleagues studies the secukinumab (an IL-17 inhibitor) response in patients from 3 clinical trials with enthesitis and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and demonstrated consistent efficacy with improved enthesitis scores at both peripheral and axial sites.
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COVID-19-Related Deaths in Rheumatic Disease Patients
There is a growing body of evidence regarding COVID-19 outcomes (including death) in rheumatic disease patients; analysis of a German registry shows that poor control, rituximab, sulfasalazine and other immunosuppressives could be risk factors for COVID-related death.
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Comparison of Three Coronavirus Vaccines
On Feb. 27, the Food and Drug Administration announced it has issued an emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose Covid vaccine, making it the third COVID-19 vaccine to be commercially available. We've compiled a comparison table and some key information relevant to your delivering patient guidance henceforth.
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Low IBD Risk with IL-17 Inhibition
Incident or worsening colitis is a rare complication of IL-17 inhibitor therapy; a real world study confirms very low rates of new IBD in patients starting secukinumab.
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Actemra FDA Approved for Systemic Sclerosis Interstitial Lung Disease
Genentech announced Thursday that the US Food and Drug Administration approved tocilizumab (Actemra) for the treatment of Systemic Sclerosis-associated Interstitial Lung Disease (SSc-ILD), specifically indicated for slowing the rate of decline in pulmonary function in adul
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RheumNow Podcast – Pounds of Prevention (3.5.2021)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews and discusses nearly a dozen news reports and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Paucity of Effectiveness Research on Telemedicine in RA
A systematic review of telehealth in delivering equivalent care in RA patients demonstrates there is limited evidence that virtual RA care is equivalent to conventional face-to-face care. Despite current widespread use, there is a great need for credible well-designed research that will address comparable patient outcomes, implementation strategies and long‐term health system consequences.
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Combo Therapy Boosts Response in Uncontrolled Gout
The addition of an immunomodulating agent to pegloticase (Krystexxa) among patients with uncontrolled gout significantly improved response rates, a systematic literature review found.
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NEJM: Interleukin-6 Inhibition in Critically-Ill COVID-19
The pendulum and jury are wavering with regard to the benefits of interleukin-6 receptor antagonists in COVID-19; the current NEJM reports the results of a study favoring such biologic therapy in in critically ill COVID-19 patients.
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