Keys to Mastery (5.2.2025)

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, articles and drug approvals from the past week on RheumNow.com. This podcast marks the beginning of our Lupus Campaign called "Lupus Unlocked: Keys to Mastery". This month's campaign on Lupus is sponsored by Aurinia.

  1. FDA Approves Rinvoq for Giant Cell Arteritis Based on the results of the SELECT-GCA study, the US FDA has approved upadacitinib (Rinvoq or UPA) for the treatment of adults with giant cell arteritis (GCA), also known as temporal arteritis. This is the 9th FDA approved indication https://t.co/gPTwnR2VLw
  2. 45 southern African American SLE pts compared to multiethnic cSLE, AA pts had signif higher Dz activity & greater damage accrual. Their mean SLICC score was 8.4, SLEDAI 13, but was 7.4 @6 mos & 4,7 @1 yr. They traveled an avg distance 75 miles to see Rheum https://t.co/NMlT4uo8jn
  3. Procalcitonin > 0.9 ng/mL can be a critical marker for identifying bacterial infection in #SLE. Single center study of 116 juv. SLE pts dx bacterial infx in 17%. Procalcitonin was signif better than others: NLR, PLR, ESR, CRP, LC4R, ferritin (cut offs need to be defined) https://t.co/3ujTDIucFM
  4. 2023 report from US NHANES study says #Gout affects 12.1 million in the USA. Gout prevalence incr from 3.6% in 2011/12 to 5.1% in 2017/2018. Recent increases do to doubling in Asian Americans from 3.3% to 6.6%. https://t.co/IBa3fOt83c
  5. Gout pts No-Shows after ED: Study of 159 gout pts w/ gout flare & ED visit - only 56 (35%) had an outpatient visit addressing gout within 6 mos. Higher odds w/ being married (OR 2.66), no comorbidities (OR 3.86), colchicine use (OR 2.7), being older (OR 1.44) https://t.co/tAorjwf8xX
  6. DANBIO registry study of 720 RA pts w/ a prior solid cancer (breast, colon. lung, endometrial, melanoma, bladder) in remission who received any biologic DMARD, TNFi or RTX found no incr risk of CA recurrence w/ any bDMARD, TNFi, RTX. Specifically, no incr in breast CA recurrence https://t.co/qyEy6iEiqb
  7. Study of 104 RA-ILD pts found that (31.7%) RA-ILD patients were ANCA positive (29/31 were p-ANCA+). compared to ANCA neg, ANCA+ RA-ILD had more respiratory Sxs, ANA positivity, worse PFTs, more acute exacerbations of ILD, more bronchietasis & honeycombing https://t.co/vZODUW9tSX
  8. Immune Checkpoint Inhib causing Myasthenia Gravis w/ poor outcomes - 16 ICI Rx pts (9 Lung CA, 7 other tumors) Dx w/ MG; 11 w/ overlap myositis. Mean onset @ 49d. All Rx wp steroids, 6 immunosuppressives, 5 plasma exchange; only 2 complete resp. 6 deaths re: MG complications https://t.co/PUc6kIE7FW
  9. Norwegian RevNatus Pregnancy study on 417 births in 350 women w/ axSpA: 86% (347) were breastfeeding @6wks, 70% @6mos, & 38% @12 mos. Non-breastfeeders more likely to have C-section (41 vs 20%), higher ASDAS-CRP (2.6 vs 2.2), CRP (5.3 vs 3.3), & VAS pain (41 vs 32) https://t.co/DI6owL5dof
  10. U.S. healthcare pharmaceutical spending reached $805.9 billion in 2024, a 10.2% increase from 2023 https://t.co/Aq7utEJ8sK
  11. US- Top Drug Rx Sales in 2024 Semaglutide $54 Billion Tirzepatide $31.7 B Adalimumab $28B Apixaban $26 B Empagliflozin $20.5 B Pembrolizumab $18 B Ustekinumab $17 B Risankizumab $16 B Dupilumab $15.6 B Etanercept $10.1 B Secukinumab $7.7 B Immune globulin $7.1 B Upadacitinib $7 https://t.co/Wjcu7LrTfC
  12. Metformin Effective in Osteoarthritis  
  13. Contraception in SLE 

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Disclosures
The author has received research/grant financial support on this subject
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