The Myopathy Committee of the Brazilian Society of Rheumatology (BSR) has put forward recommendations for the management of patients with systemic autoimmune myopathies (SAM). The challenge has been that there is a paucity of effective controlled clinical trials, and hence, glucocorticoids (GC) have played a first-line and prominent role in the treatment of SAM.

A claims data analysis shows that only one-third of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) treated with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) therapy remain on their initial drug in the 2 years post initiation.

First-line treatment of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) with anakinra (Kineret) was highly effective as monotherapy, minimizing the need for glucocorticoids, a single-center prospective study found.