Poll: Americans Favor Federal Action on Drug Prices
Most Americans value the prescription products the drug industry produces, but they sure don't like the prices and want the federal government to take action, according to a new survey
News
Amgen Agrees to $71 Million Settlement over Enbrel & Aranesp Promotion
Based on potentiallly off-label promotion of blockbuster drugs Aranesp and Enbrel, Amgen has agreed to a $71 million settlement with 48 states and the District of Columbia.
Serious Infections are Increasing in Lupus
Tektonidou and coworkers have analyzed hospitalized serious infections (SIE) involving lupus patients over a 15 year period and show that SIE in SLE have increased substantially between 1996 and 2011, and in 2011 are 12 times higher than seen in patients without SLE.
Poor Compliance in SLE Leads to More ER Visits and Hospitalizations
Feldman and coworkers have analyzed US Medicaid claims data from 9,600 hydroxychloroquine and 3,829 new immunosuppressive new users with a diagnosis of SLE.
"Eye of Newt" Leads Regenerative Therapy in Osteoarthritis
Regeneration of cartilage is the holy grail of osteoarthritis research.
Enthesitis Ultrasound as an Outcome Measure in Spondyloarthritis
Musculoskeletal ultrasound (US) was recently used in a longitudinal study Achilles enthesis of 146 patients with early spondyloarthritis (SpA). Usual measures of SpA activity included BASFI, BASRI-spine, BASDAI and Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS).
Thalamic Currents Underlie Sleep Problems in Fibromyalgia
Sleep disruption is a core feature of fibromyalgia. People with fibromyalgia exhibit sleep brain wave patterns often disrupted by brain waves that correspond to wakefulness.
Cancer Risk Is Both Increased and Decreased in RA
Rheumatoid arthritis patients are often said to have no or a low risk of cancer.
Priorities for NIAMS Research Funding
Dr. Steven Katz describes how NIAMS sets priorities for investing congressionally-appropriated funds.
More On ICD-10
Dr. Marty Bergman (see prior article) writes to remind rheumatologists that the October 1 deadline is for the date of service. If you see the patient on September 30th, but don't bill it until October 4th, you need to use ICD-9 codes.
Patients Unaware that Smoking Worsens IBD
Smoking is a well-known inciting or exacerbating factor in many inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Long-Term Safety of Rituximab
Rituximab has been used for years with good efficacy, but with several safety concerns. Van Vollenhoven and colleagues have published the cumulative clinical trial safety experience of RTX wherein 3595 patients 1–20 (average - 4) courses over 11 years [14,816 patient-years (PY)].
