CHICAGO—Are effective treatments for osteoarthritis (OA) on the horizon? In Emerging Treatments for Osteoarthritis at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, experts discussed potential therapies to address OA structural progression, pain and inflammation. With an aging population and rising obesity rates, “we can expect the prevalence of osteoarthritis will only increase,” said Anne-Marie Malfait, MD, PhD,…
By the time Kelly Conway was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2007, she had already been living with symptoms of the disease for 23 years. Her first symptom appeared when she was 14—knee pain that was incorrectly diagnosed as tendonitis. Over the years, she has experienced fevers and sore joints. She was diagnosed with…
Drug-naive, new-onset SLE patients, even those with inactive disease, are likely to have silent cardiac impairment, according to a new study by Guo et al. Cardiac involvement is the leading cause of death in patients with lupus, and the estimates of cardiac impairment in SLE range from 31–70%. Cardiac impairment can remain unrecognized until after autopsy. These researchers investigated the use of cardiac MRI to explore early warning signs of silent cardiac involvement in SLE and determine treatment timing…
The FDA has approved an update for rituximab’s label, which will include safety and efficacy information for treating ANCA-associated vasculitis…
An exploratory analysis of a canakinumab clinical trial has shown the interleukin 1β inhibitor may significantly reduce patients’ risk for gout flares. During the study, patients using canakinumab experienced this decreased risk, but the treatment did not change serum uric acid levels…
During a five-year trial of canakinumab, patients with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis taking canakinumab showed progress toward clinical remission and glucocorticoid tapering…
Recent research demonstrated that fibromyalgia patients have lower cerebral blood flow velocity variability than healthy controls, which may reflect impaired coordination of cerebral regulatory systems. This analysis may be a promising tool for characterizing fibromyalgia pathology and understanding health-related quality of life…
In a four-year study, patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) experienced sustained improvement in PsA signs and symptoms on secukinumab…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Pfizer Inc. said on Friday that it plans to hike U.S. prices on 41 of its medicines in January, after walking back its previous price increases this summer under pressure from President Donald Trump. The company said in a statement that the increases would be on around 10% of its drugs. Pfizer said…
Throughout a patient’s lifetime, providers are entrusted with their most intimate and personal information, which they expect to be kept private and confidential. Unfortunately, the healthcare system can face serious implications if any part of a patient’s privacy or information is breached. Under the Health Information Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) and state laws healthcare…