All News
ANA Pollution (2.06.2026)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal articles and regulatory news from this past week on RheumNow.com
Read Article
FDA vs. Amgen: At Odds Over Avacopan
The FDA has requested that Amgen voluntarily withdraw avacopan (Tavneos), a treatment for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis, but the company said it has no plans to pull the drug from the market.
Read Article
ACR Applauds Recent Government Funding
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) today applauded the recent passage of the Congressional CY 26 funding package that includes several important provisions, including extending Medicare telehealth payment flexibilities, improving transparency in pharmacy benefit management (PBM) practices
Read Article
Which Fibromyalgia Drugs are Cost-Effective?
A cost-effectiveness analysis compared FDA approved fibromyalgia drugs (pregabalin, duloxetine, milnacipran) with amitriptyline and found duloxetine was the preferred strategy across perspectives.
Read Article
Methotrexate intolerance in rheumatoid arthritis
A current large rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohort study from Cairo assessed methotrexate (MTX) use and found over half were MTX intolerant and a third of patients were noncompliant with MTX.
Read Article
TOPKAT Trial: Partial vs Total Knee Replacement
Patients with osteoarthritis (OA) primarily affecting only one knee joint compartment did just as well with partial knee replacement (PKR) as with total arthroplasty after 10 years in a randomized trial -- and maybe a little bit better.
Read Article
Consensus on Managing Vertebral Fractures in Advanced CKD
A coalition of leading international experts have released the first comprehensive Consensus Statement on the Management of Vertebral Fractures in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Stages G4–G5D.
Read Article
Treat-to-Target in Gout and Cardiovascular Outcomes
A 5 year JAMA study shows that a treat-to-target (serum urate < 6 mg/dL) study finds that effective urate-lowering treatment (ULT) results in a significantly reduced cardiovascular risk in patients with gout.
Trends in Rheumatoid Arthritis Mortality
A recent study examines trends in rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-related mortality among U.S. postmenopausal women (aged 55 and older). They found RA mortality rates have declined, yet disparities in who is most affected persist, especially for white women, and those over 85 yrs of age.
Read Article
Reduced Healthy Working Life Expectancy with Arthritis
Using the long-running, U.S.-based Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which enrolls people age 50 and older, as the data source, Ross Wilkie, PhD, of Keele University in Staffordshire, England, and colleagues estimated that those reporting an arthritis diagnosis could expect just 6.18 more years of being able to work without physical limitations, compared with 11.71 years for those without arthritis.
Read Article
APPIPRA Study - Benefits of Early Treatment
Treating people who are at high risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can delay the onset of the disease for several years, with benefits also continuing well after treatment has stopped.
Read Article
Emergency Department Visits by Rheumatoid Patients
A Canadian population study shows that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have 30% higher emergency department (ED) visit rates for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSCs) compared to age- and sex-matched population controls.
Smartphones and Rheumatoid Flares
FORWARD Databank of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients reveals that smartphone data can predict flares using PROs.
Nurse Practitioner Independence
A JAMA Viewpoint article reports on a March 2025 Nurse Practitioner (NP) Entrepreneurship Summit in Boston in March 2025 identifying barriers and opportunities to NP-owned medical practices.
Read Article
Medicare Primary Care Shortage - betw 2013 -2021, PCPs decr 25%, while APPs rose 91%. 2021 AVAILABILITY per 10,000 Medicare beneficiaries; - Total clinicians: 23.4 to 22.2 (–5%) - Total new visits: 1162 to 1102 (–5%) - Total PCPs: 20.0 to 15.5 (–22%) - APPs: 3.4 to 6.7 (+97%) https://t.co/ALQI3O3Ian
2024 Cardiology Income Survey - CV APP salary has incr 15% from 2019 -23, median=$123K - 50% of APP programs lead by an APP >90% work in outpt. clinics - 2/3 of prgs deploy APPs lipid & prevention management - 2 APPs for every 3 cardiologists https://t.co/gtdm5qN1qD https://t.co/cx2JUcw4U3
Links:
