Articles By Eric Dein, MD
Malignancy risk on b/tsDMARDs in patients with prior malignancy history
For autoimmune patients with a history of malignancy, the initiation of biologic or targeted synthetic disease modifying agents (bDMARD/tsDMARDs) may provoke concern.
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Real World Data on Urate Lowering Therapy
Urate lowering therapy (ULT) is the backbone therapy for long-term gout treatment and maintenance, but real-world gout management is often imperfect and suboptimal.
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Can "Ultra-low" dose Rituximab work for RA?
The REDO trial presented data in abstract 1443 in an oral presentation challenging how low we can go with rituximab for rheumatoid arthritis. Their study randomized 118 patients with rheumatoid arthritis to 1000 mg, 500 mg, and "ultra-low" dose 200 mg.
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After failing a JAK inhibitor, can you still hit a JAK-pot?
Januse kinase (JAK) inhibitors are targeted synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (tsDMARDs) that have risen in popularity as earlier treatment options for rheumatoid arthritis.
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Can the Focus Score predict Lymphoma in Sjogren’s syndrome?
Patients with Sjogren’s syndrome are nearly 19 times more likely to develop lymphoma, so identifying factors that impact this risk development is a major goal in caring for this disorder.
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Is Rituximab and Belimumab the Combination to Beat Lupus?
On day 2 of EULAR conference, Dr. Michael Ehrenstein presented OP0129, a presentation on the BEAT-LUPUS trial looking at belimumab therapy after rituximab. B cell depletion with rituximab is common treatment for refractory SLE, though real-world data for rituximab has been uncertain. It is known that B-cell activating factor (BAFF) levels can increase after rituximab, which can lead to disease flares. Using belimumab, a human monoclonal antibody inhibiting BAFF, could be a potential therapeutic option after rituximab infusions.
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Mortality in Low Dose Prednisone
Upon release of the new ACR 2020 Pharmacologic Treatment Recommendations for the Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis, many practitioners were surprised that the new guidelines recommended against glucocorticoid initiation at disease onset.
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Outcomes Switching to Monotherapy: SEAM-RA Trial
Combination therapy with biologic and conventional DMARDs can be highly effective at inducing remission in patients with RA. Once controlled, patients are often interested in stopping combination drug therapy due to concerns related to medication burdens, side effect profiles, or safety.
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