NOR-DRUM Study: TNF Inhibitor Therapeutic Drug Monitoring is Effective

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New research presented this week at ACR  Convergence, the American College of  Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that proactive therapeutic drug monitoring, a newer treatment strategy where a patient’s drug serum levels are regularly assessed to adjust the dose and intervals, controlled disease more effectively than standard therapy with infliximab, a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor.   

Infection Rates in Psoriatic Arthritis Patients on Biologics Have Decreased

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New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows significant decreases in infections among people with psoriatic arthritis over the years 2012-2017.

Rituximab Patients May Benefit from Third COVID-19 Vaccine Dose

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New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows immunocompromised patients using rituximab (a drug used to treat diseases like rheumatoid arthritis) were able to produce antibodies against COVID-19 (seroconvert) after receiving a t

Blacks with Systemic Sclerosis May Have More Severe Disease

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New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that Black people living with systemic sclerosis may have more severe disease and worse prognosis than patients in other racial or ethnic groups, and these worrying disparities may be driven by several socioeconomic factors (Abstract #1854). This poster will be presented Tuesday morning,  November 9, 2021 in the Clinical Poster III (1836–1861) section on Systemic Sclerosis & Related Disorders.

JAK-pot Study: Cycling JAK Inhibitors Effective in Difficult-to-Treat RA

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New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that people with difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis who do not have success with one Janus kinase inhibitor (JAK inhibitor) can achieve success either cycling to other JAKi medic

Ultra-Low Dose Rituximab Controls Disease Activity in RA

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New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that in one study, the majority of rheumatoid arthritis patients on an ultra-low dose of the drug rituximab maintained low disease activity for up to four years, and rarely needed to switch to other biologic drugs or glucocorticoids to control their disease (Abstract #1443). 

Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events - ASCO Guideline

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The American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc (ASCO) has updated its guidelines and recommendations for the management of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICPi) therapy. Below are select statements from this guideline.

Serologically Active, Clinically Quiescent SLE

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Lupus management is guided by assessment of both clinical and serologic features; but what happens with the patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) serologically active, but clinically quiescent (SACQ)?  A large cohort study shows that nearly one-third of such patients may flare

Clues to Survival and Mortality with VEXAS Syndrome

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New research to be presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows a relationship between genotype, bone marrow failure and survival in patients with the rare autoinflammatory disease VEXAS syndrome, which was only identified in 2020.

Large GWAS Study Reveals Genetic Basis for Osteoarthritis Phenotypes

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Cell has published the results of a multinational, GWAS meta-analyses of 826,690 individuals that included 177,517 osteoarthritis patients, finding 52 previously unknown osteoarthritis (OA) genetic risk variants and linking OA genetic risks with joint distribution and pain

RheumNow Podcast – Like Father, Like Daughter (10.29.2021)

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Bad things happen when our patients go into the ICU and it's not always due to the disease. Good things happen when we rise from sitting. And guess what? Rheumatologists are setting cardiology straight about hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. This, and a special recognition of parent-child rheumatologists, along with the news and articles from this week on RheumNow.

Biologic Use and the Risk of Serious Infection in Psoriasis Patients

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National Health Data from France examined biologic use in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, and found the risk of serious infections (SIE) to be increased with some biologics (infliximab and adalimumab), but not others (etanercept, ustekinumab IL-17 and IL-23 inhibitors or apremila