Articles By Jack Cush, MD
COVID-19 as a Leading Cause of Death in the USA
The exponential rise in deaths from the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the last several months is put into perspective by JAMA Viewpoint article noting that current US death rates of > 3000 per day from COVID-19 is greater than that seen in one day on September 11, 2001 (9/11 attacks, claimed 2988 lives) or by a fictional catastrophe of 15 Airbus 320 jetliners (150 passengers each) crashing daily.
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Benlysta First Agent Approved for Lupus Nephritis
After the successful completion of the BLISS-LN trial and previewing the results at EULAR 2020 and ACR Convergence, GlaxoSmithKline announced yesterday that the FDA has approved belimumab (Benlysta) for use in adults with active lupus nephritis (LN) receiving background/standard therapy.
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Filgotinib Bows Out of the RA Race in the USA
Gilead Sciences Inc announced yesterday that it has decided not to pursue the an rheumatoid arthritis (RA) indicatin for its once daily oral JAK inhibitor, filgotinib (also named Jyseleca).
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Consensus Recommendations on JAK Inhibitor Use
A steering committee and task force was convened to develop recommendations for the use of Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors in the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID).
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Lung Cancer Survival With Autoimmune Disease
Lung cancer risk is often increased with inflammation and autoimmune disease; a recent analysis suggests that patients with autoimmune disease do not have worse survival, even though they may have received less than the standard-of-care treatments.
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COVID Risks in Systemic Autoimmune Patients
There have been conflicting reports of whether rheumatic patients have greater risks once they are infected with COVID-19. This claims cohort analysis suggests a mixed picture.
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RheumNow Podcast – Stop These COVID Mistakes (12.11.20)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com.
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New Lyme Disease Guidelines
2020 evidence-based clinical practice guideline for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease was cooperatively developed the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).
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Systemic Steroids Seldom Flare Psoriasis
A tenet of drug management suggests that steroid use in psoriasis may be associated with rebound flares; well this has been challenged by a new observational trial showing that the risk of flares (and severe flares) of psoriasis flares were seldom triggered by systemic steroids - certainly much l
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Upadacitinib Effective in Biologic Refractory Psoriatic Arthritis
The SELECT-PsA 2 trial was presented at the ACR meeting and recently published in Annals of Rheumatic Disease, shows that psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients who have failed at least one biologic DMARD, did respond well to upadacitinib.
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