Articles By Jack Cush, MD
No Cancer Recurrence with Biologic DMARDs in RA
A prospective Danish rheumatoid arthritis (RA) registry study look at the risk of recurrence when a biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) was ued in patients with a a prior solid cancer (in remission) and found no increased cancer
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Tocilizumab vs. Methotrexate in Rheumatoid Arthritis
A large randomized rheumatoid arthritis (RA) clinical trial compared subcutaneous tocilizumab (TCZ) vs oral methotrexate (MTX) vs. the combination of subcutaneous TCZ and MTX, and showed that TCZ was superior to MTX, either given as TCZ monotherapy or in combination with MTX.
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Biologics in Pregnancy Patients With Autoimmune Disease
A large cohort, claims data study shows that among pregnant women receiving biologic therapies for autoimmune conditions, 72% continued their biologics pregnancy, more so among inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients than those with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis (PsO) or psoriatic arthri
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Panacea of Prednisone & Cannabis (5.16.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal and regulatory reports from this week on RheumNow.com. Interesting trends and results with prednisone in lupus, cannabis in RA and opioid deaths too!
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Hydroxychloroquine for Everyone
Nearly 25 years ago, while lecturing on best therapies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), I loudly stated that hydroxychloroquine was “useless” and, deservedly, I was “boo-ed” off stage. My point then was that rheumatologists needed to be aggressive, if not overly aggressive, in treating all RA patients. And my view was that HCQ was representative of under-treatment. I have reconsidered the use of HCQ in RA substantially in the last few years, based on its merit.
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Lupus Nephritis 2024 Guidelines
The ACR has published evidence-based and expert guidance for the screening, treatment, and management of lupus nephritis (LN). These are the same guidelines presented at ACR Convergence 2024.
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Smoking & Autoantibodies in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Investigators from the Netherlands have published their findings that smoking is a risk factor in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), led by the induction of local autoimmune responses at mucosal sites (in the lungs) and exemplified by RA-specific autoantibodies.
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Vitamin D Headlines (5.9.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports and lupus highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com. Triple positivity, the gut and CRPS, and hope for better outcomes with Vitamin D therapy.
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D-Lay Trial: High-Dose Vitamin D Retards Multiple Sclerosis
A randomized clinical trial with oral high-dose cholecalciferol ( vitamin D3) was shown to prevent or delay the onset of clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), typical for multiple sclerosis (MS).
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Stable SLE - Should you Withdraw Immunosuppressant or Glucocorticoids?
An open-label, single-centre, randomized controlled trial tested whether immunosuppressant (IS) withdrawal is noninferior to glucocorticoid (GC) withdrawal in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and found that IS withdrawal is noninferior to GC withdrawal in SLE patients in long-term
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