Immunosuppression

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the American Academy of Dermatology has issued a guidance on the use of biologic agents. The document was created on March 18, 2020, and is subject to change as the pandemic develops.

Researchers found a link between frailty and risk for infection following immunosuppression in patients with inflammatory bowel disease after adjusting for age and comorbidities.

U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy, MD, R-La., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., introduced legislation on Feb. 28 that would extend immunosuppressive drug coverage for Medicare patients who receive a kidney transplant regardless of age.

ORLANDO — Identifying Clostridioides difficile infection among patients with inflammatory bowel disease can be a particularly tricky task, according to Jessica Allegretti, MD, MPH, of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Crohn’s and Colitis Center. Since both are diarrhea-predominant, there is a lot of symptoms overlap.

Published research found acute kidney injury occurred frequently after the initiation of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for patients with cancer.

LEO Pharma announced that tralokinumab met all primary and secondary endpoints in ECZTRA 1-3, its three pivotal phase 3 studies for moderate to severe atopic dermatitis in adults.

ORLANDO — The use of high-dose post-transplant cyclophosphamide reduced the incidence of severe acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease without affecting risk for relapse among patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant with matched related or unrelated donors, according to results of the randomized phase 3 HOVON-96 study presented during the plenary session of ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition.

The FDA has accepted a biologics license application for satralizumab for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, Genentech/Roche announced in a press release.

Dermatology consultation may improve the long-term implications of hospitalization for suspected dermatologic immune-related adverse events, according to researchers in Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Around two-thirds of patients in a 5-year, multisite study who survived hospitalization for sepsis demonstrated persistent elevated levels of inflammation and immunosuppression biomarkers for up to 1 year, placing them at risk for worse long-term outcomes, including death or readmission, researchers found.