Psoriatic Arthritis

Among patients with rheumatic diseases, treatment with any biologic increases the risk for tuberculosis, both reactivation and new-onset, with an incidence rate among biologic users that is 10 times higher in South Africa than in European countries, according to data published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Patients with psoriatic arthritis treated with secukinumab demonstrated early and sustained resolution of enthesitis, with 300 mg doses providing higher resolution than 150 mg in more severe cases, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

If early therapy with DMARDs can slow disease progression and delay expensive biologic treatment, early screening for psoriatic arthritis among patients with psoriasis could save $220 million each year in Canada and improve quality of life, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The investigational IL-17A and IL-17F inhibitor bimekizumab was superior to adalimumab in achieving a 90% improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score after 16 weeks, according to a press release from UCB.

New treatments and trial designs, particularly focused on patients with refractory disease, remain among the top unmet needs in rheumatology in 2019, according to expert opinions culled from the Advances in Target Therapies annual meeting and published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis who are newly treated with IL-12/23 blockers demonstrated a reduced risk for serious infection compared with those who received TNF or IL-17 inhibitors, according to data published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

The FDA has approved the fourth biosimilar to infliximab, infliximab-axxq, for all eligible indications of the biologic product.

No significant increased risk was found for suicidal behavior in a retrospective group of patients with psoriasis and potential concomitant psoriatic arthritis compared with control patients, according to findings from a nationwide study in Taiwan published in American Journal of Clinical Dermatology.

Among a large cohort of patients with psoriasis, researchers found around 20% had an immune-mediated inflammatory disease develop before psoriasis onset and 14% had one develop after psoriasis onset, according to a study using data from the Danish National Patient Registry.

Oral health and hygiene and dietary practices may be associated with the development and severity of psoriasis, in a study from Dermatology Online Journal and the top Healio Dermatology story from November.