Data made public by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows that drug and device makers made nearly $8.2 billion in payments to U.S. physicians and teaching hospitals in the last year. Since 2013, CMS has been tracking physician payments as part of the Affordable Care Act.
The FDA has approved both IV and SC ORENCIA (abatacept) for the treatment of adults with active Psoriatic Arthritis.
It is well-known that patients with systemic autoimmune diseases are at risk for Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) and although infrequent, it carries a high mortality. A new study shows lymphopenia and steroid use increases the risk of PJP.
Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com:
Nearly half of all available vacation days go unused and over 40% of Americans failed to use any vacation days in 2015. Common sense says that taking more time off (not less) is likely to lead to increased work productivity. Your next vacation is essential to building a better you. Here are some tips to insure you get the most from your time off.
Pianta, et al have published their findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigation showing that two novel autoantigens, GNS and FLNA, are highly expressed in synovium and share a sequence homology with gut microbesa; thereby providing a potential link between gut mucosal and joint immunity in rheumatoid arthritis.
Researchers from Augusta University have examined exosomes from patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) to enhance our molecular understanding of the pathogenesis of OA. (Citation source http://buff.ly/2tuDZ3v)
Dr. Sharad Lakhanpal, President of the American College of Rheumatology has responded to the Senate's proposed changes to healthcare coverage in the USA.
It is a common practice for rheumatologists to discuss medication-related teratogenicity and disease implications in case of pregnancy. Yet, discussion of breastfeeding are often omitted.
Many restaurants brag about various things, including their Michelin stars, their wine list, and their reviews, but Botin merely tells you it is the oldest restaurant in the world! That’s a pretty great start and no doubt serves to remind you there is a reason that this place, situated in the medieval Austrias area of Madrid and founded by the Frenchman Jean Botín in 1725, is still there.
Dr. Janet Pope reviews her favorite and least favorite presentations and abstracts from EULAR 2017.
Based on recent clinical trials, the makers of golimumab have petitioned the FDA for new indications in PsA and AS. Trials for PsA (GO-VIBRANT) and AS (GO-ALIVE) were presented at last weeks EULAR 2017 meeting in Madrid, Spain.
Dr. Jack Cush reviews his approach to attending and getting the most out of ACR or EULAR Congress meetings.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal has studied the costs of prescription drugs in 10 high-income countries (seven European countries, Australia, Canada and New Zealand) and found that many of these medicines varied by more than 600%.
Bone turnover markers (BTMs) have been eyed for decades as potential monitoring tools in osteoporosis.
However, there have been difficulties with poor between-lab reproductivity, insufficiently controlled heterogeneity, and pre-analytical variability of the assays; making BTMs vastly unpopular amongst practicing rheumatologists.
