Today Eli Lilly announced that Taltz (ixekizumab) has received FDA approval for the treatment of adults with active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA). Ixekizumab (an IL-17A inhibitor) would join certolizumab (TNF inhibitor) as the only 2 drugs approved by the FDA for nr-
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Gianfresco et al have published the first peer-reviewed analysis of COVID-19 infected, rheumatic disease patients entered into the Rheumatology Global Alliance registry; showing that a) rheumatic disease patient can be infected with COVID-19, b) that DMARD and biologic use has no apparent effect
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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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This week's Tuesday Nite Rheumatology featured Dr Randy Cron from the University of Alabama - Birmingham as he spoke and took questions on the immunology, immunopathogenesis and treatment of Cytokine Storm Syndrome, especially as they relate to COVID-19 and rheumatic disease patients. The
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Two current reports from Boston and Wuhan describe cohorts of COVID-19 (+) rheumatic disease patients who generally do well but appear to have a higher risk of pulmonary involvement.
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This week's Tuesday Nite Rheumatology features presentations and interviews with Drs. Peter Nash and Philip Robinson. Dr. Robinson presents latest data on the Rheum-Covid.org Registry, that he helped establish under the Global Rheumatology Alliance. Dr. Nash presents the impact of COVID in
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Anakinra was studied in 29 COVID(+) patients with respiratory distress and high inflammatory markers (CRP or ferritin) and compared to non-anakinra patients, those on anakinra had better survival (90% vs. 56% ;p=0·009) and greater improvements in CRP and pulmonary function (72% vs 50%) compared
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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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The latest hazardous spinoff to the coronavirus infection is an inflammatory, Kawasaki-like syndrome unique to children or adolescents with COVID-19. Sporadic reports from around the globe of this severe pediatric COVID syndrome have littered the news with brief mentions and little detail.
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As data continue to emerge about a multi-system inflammatory disorder in children apparently connected to COVID-19, evidence is growing that this is not your typical Kawasaki disease.
In New York, up to 102 children have reportedly developed this inflammatory syndrome, and three
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Last night's Tuesday Nite Rheumatology featured Dr. Joan Merrill (OMRF). In her lecture, "What does COVID-19 have to do with lupus?", she discusses the pathogenesis of lupus, and specifically thrombotic microangiopathy, complementopathies, catastrophic lupus syndrome and the potential overlap
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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Dr. Len Calabrese from the Cleveland Clinic delivers this week's Tuesday Nite Rheumatology Grand Rounds, entitled "IL-6 in Health and Disease: Where Rheumatology Meets COVID-19".
Dr. Calabrese provides a comprehensive review of IL-6 biology, and discusses IL-6 signaling, IL-6 roles in health,
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Hydroxychloroquine has been a dominant news item since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, with a great deal of misconceptions by those who don't know or use or take the drug. HCQ leaped to the headlines on March 19th when President Trump endorsed the drug as being “approved” by FDA. Of course at
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The oral cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) agonist lenabasum showed promising results for systemic sclerosis (SSc) in a phase II study.
At week 16, the American College of Rheumatology Combined Response Index in diffuse cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis (CRISS) increased to 0.33 among
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In the last few days there have been encouraging "preliminary" reports that IL-6 inhibition by either tocilizumab or sarilumab may be efficacious in patients with severe coronavirus infections.
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Arthritis & Rheumatology reports that biologic (bDMARD) use in rheumatoid arthritis may decrease cardiovascular disease risk by retarding coronary plaque formation and progression (especially non‐calcified and low‐attenuation plaque).
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Dr Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports, twitter feed and COVID developments from the past week on RheumNow.com
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A pre-proof letter to the editor in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology presents a series of patients with immunoglobulin deficiency disorders and how they differentially responded when infected with the coronavirus.
They identified seven Primary Antibody Deficiencies patients with
Early reports on the COVID-19 pandemic allude to a cytokine storm or hyper-inflammation, especially in patients who succumbed to the illness. These conclusions are based on elevated levels of ferritin and other inflammatory markers, drawing comparisons to rare diseases of uncontrolled
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Journal of Experimental Medicine has published a paper from a consortium of researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) on the potential of neutrophil
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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the appproach to evaluating fever in adults suspected of having a rheumatic disease, Stills disease or autoinflammatory conditions. Presentations, fever duration, disease criteria and genetic testing are discussed.
For more information on this subject or use of
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