Rheumatoid Arthritis News

DESTIN, Fla. — The etanercept biosimilar, etanercept-szzs, demonstrated an equivalent clinical efficacy and safety profile to etanercept among patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis who failed to respond to disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, according to findings presented at the 2018 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology.

DESTIN, Fla. — Rheumatoid arthritis demonstrated a statistically significant increase in mortality between 2005 and 2015, bucking a downward trend for mortality in most other rheumatologic diseases, according to findings from a national study presented at the North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum.

DESTIN, Fla. — There is a 53% higher prevalence of depression associated with rheumatoid arthritis, and a 21% higher prevalence in systemic lupus erythematosus, although depression severity was only demonstrated among patients with the former, according to findings presented at the 2018 North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum.

The nature of the relationship that patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases have with their rheumatologist can greatly affect perceptions of — and experiences with — their medications, according to findings published in BMC Rheumatology.

The FDA has rejected approval of Sandoz’s biologics license application for GP2013, a proposed rituximab biosimilar, issuing Complete Response Letters for the product.

In a review of clinical trials of tofacitinib, lymphoma rates among patients with rheumatoid arthritis who received the drug were stable over time, with minimal differences in the baseline characteristics of those with and without lymphoma, according to findings published in Arthritis Care and Research.

BOSTON — Clinical studies indicate that all JAK inhibitors approved so far are effective across a range of immune-mediated inflammatory disorders, with early onset of benefit reported within 1 to 2 weeks, and maximal benefit at 3 months, according to findings presented here.

BOSTON — Several biologic therapies used by rheumatologists, including rituximab, tocilizumab, abatacept and others, can increase the risk for infectious disease in patients, according to findings presented here.

BOSTON — Rheumatologists need to be more aware of the nonplaque aspects and symptoms of psoriasis, in order to better screen and diagnose their patients, according to a presentation at the 2018 Interdisciplinary Autoimmune Summit.

BOSTON — The potential rheumatic side effects of checkpoint inhibitor therapy in patients with cancer can include arthralgia, arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, giant cell arteritis, myositis, sicca syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus, and can be chronic in approximately 50% of patients, according to findings presented here.