Etanercept

Etanercept monotherapy or a combination of etanercept and methotrexate had better psoriasis outcomes than methotrexate alone, according to a poster presented at the American Academy of Dermatology virtual meeting.

Among patients with psoriasis who showed an inadequate response to apremilast, etanercept was associated with strong response rates and patient-reported outcomes, according to a recently published study.

ATLANTA — Data from the Varicella Zoster Vaccine study demonstrate that administering live, attenuated varicella vaccine to patients taking TNF inhibitors did not result in any safety events or disease flare after 6 weeks. In addition, there were no cases of varicella infection — either wild or vaccine type.

ATLANTA — Annual public spending by Medicare and Medicaid on biologic DMARDs more than doubled, from $5.3 billion in 2012 to $10.3 billion in 2016, largely due to post-market price increases, according to Natalie McCormick, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Metabolic syndrome status numerically affected the median Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score changes in patients receiving Ilumya 100 mg or 200 mg or Enbrel but was not clinically lower, according to research presented at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus.

Ilumya is among the most cost-effective first-line therapies for treating psoriasis, according to research presented by Justin Carrico, MD, of RTI Health Solutions, and colleagues at Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus.

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.

In patients with psoriasis, the median time between first and last biologic prescriptions was between 3.3 and 7 months with up to 50% of patients not prescribed a second prescription for the medication, according to researchers in Journal of Drugs in Dermatology.

Amgen has entered into an agreement with Celgene to acquire worldwide rights to Otezla for $13.4 billion in cash, or approximately $11.2 billion, net of the present value of $2.2 billion in anticipated future cash tax benefits.

A U.S. District Court judge has ruled in favor of Amgen in its lawsuit against Novartis’ Sandoz, which claimed patent infringement on its biologic etanercept by the biosimilar, etanercept-szzs.