Biologic

KOLOA, Hawaii — During a Facebook Live at Orthopedics Today Hawaii, Anthony A. Romeo, MD, and Matthew T. Provencher, MD, spoke about the use of orthobiologics in orthopedics.

Despite pressure from the Trump administration and Congress to curb rising drug costs, pharmaceutical companies — in what has become a common industry practice — have begun January 2020 by instituting a bevy of price increases.

The Arthroscopy Association of North America, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, the International Cartilage Repair Society and the Orthoregeneration Network Foundation have collaborated to form the Biologics Alliance, which will discuss all issues on musculoskeletal biologics and regenerative medicine.

ATLANTA — Biologic DMARDs were as efficacious among patients with rheumatoid arthritis aged 60 years and older at disease onset as it was among younger patients, with comparable rates of drug maintenance and adverse event discontinuation between the two groups, according to findings presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting.

Repeat, routine testing for latent tuberculosis infection among patients receiving biologics is both costly and of low clinical value, according to findings presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting.

SAN FRANCISCO — Only adalimumab is FDA-approved for the treatment of noninfectious intermediate and posterior uveitis and panuveitis; however, other biologics hold promise for the treatment of ocular inflammation, according to a presentation at Cornea Subspecialty Day at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

Ocugen announced a strategic partnership with CanSino Biologics for gene therapy candidates and also the completion of its merger with Histogenics.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who achieve low disease activity with tofacitinib plus methotrexate can safely withdraw methotrexate without fear of worsening disease activity, according to findings published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

Based on the available literature, the American Academy of Dermatology and the National Psoriasis Foundation published joint guidelines on ultraviolet light-based therapies for the treatment of psoriasis.