Rheumatoid Arthritis News

The FDA has issued a warning letter to MediNatura Inc., ordering the company to cease illegal marketing of unapproved injectable homeopathic products that claim to treat “inflammatory and degenerative conditions of the musculoskeletal system” and relieve pain, swelling and joint stiffness.

Among patients with rheumatoid arthritis and an inadequate response to methotrexate, high baseline IL-6 may be a prognostic marker of disease progression and severity, and predict better response to sarilumab compared with adalimumab, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

The FDA has rescinded the emergency use authorization, or EUA, for hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19, according to a letter from RADM Denise Hinton, the FDA’s Chief Scientist.

Lifestyle approaches, including physical activity and smoking cessation, should complement medical therapy in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, according to data presented at the EULAR 2020 E-Congress.

Among the small but significant changes to the 2019 EULAR recommendations for management of rheumatoid arthritis with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs is the unifying principle that patients need access to several drugs with different mechanisms of action to confront disease heterogeneity, according to a presenter at the EULAR 2020 E-Congress.

Data presented at the EULAR 2020 E-Congress demonstrated that upadacitinib was superior to abatacept at improving the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis among patients with inadequate response to, or intolerance for, biologic DMARDs.

Rheumatology care led by a nurse or other ‘rheumatological assistant’ was shown to be as effective as standard of care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Germany, which is dealing with a critical shortage of rheumatologists, according to data presented at the EULAR 2020 E-Congress.

Patients with interstitial lung disease demonstrated a higher proportion of comorbidities and rheumatoid arthritis activity, as well as rheumatoid arthritis-related conditions, according to a presenter at the EULAR 2020 Virtual Congress.

TNF inhibitors bested conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs at reducing venous thromboembolic events in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to data presented at the EULAR 2020 E-Congress.

Patients treated with biologic therapy for inflammatory diseases may not have a higher risk for developing melanoma, a systematic review and meta-analysis found.