In a study from Ramanan et al., baricitinib proved safe and effective for reducing the time to flare and frequency of flare in patients aged 2–18 years with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Michele B. Kaufman, PharmD, BCGP, is a freelance medical writer and editor. She is also a pharmacist at New York Presbyterian Hospital–Lower Manhattan campus. She has been a past guest lecturer at Touro College of Pharmacy in New York City for the Medical Writing elective. Dr Kaufman is a member of the New York City Society of Health-Systems Pharmacy, the New York State Council of Health-System Pharmacists, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP)—Northeast Region Affiliate Chapter, the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists and the Empire State-Metropolitan NY Chapter of the American Medical Writers Association. She received her BS in Pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island (URI) College of Pharmacy and her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences in Boston. She also completed a Drug Information Fellowship at the URI Drug Information Center/Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, R.I. Dr Kaufman is a registered pharmacist and is a Board-Certified Geriatric Pharmacist.
In a study from Ramanan et al., baricitinib proved safe and effective for reducing the time to flare and frequency of flare in patients aged 2–18 years with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
A study from Haibel et al. in patients with chronic knee arthritis found intra-articular morphine did not lead to a significant, short-term reduction in pain compared with placebo and proved inferior to treatment with intra-articular triamcinolone.
Based on findings from a double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating its efficacy and safety, rituximab-arrx has received FDA approval for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
In a small preliminary study, the novel MK2 inhibitor, CC-99677, was safe and well tolerated by healthy participants. With daily dosing, the agent sustained reductions of tumor necrosis factor alpha and other cytokines for 14 days.
In the E.U., secukinumab is edging closer to approval for use in pediatric patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), specifically those with enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) and juvenile psoriatic arthritis (PsA). In May, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency issued a positive opinion on expanding its indications.
With many new agents designed to treat PsA, rheumatologists and patients have options. Schwartzman et al. examined the real-world use of different treatments and ranked patient medication preferences.
In a small study of men with low bone mineral density (BDM) living with HIV and taking anti-retroviral therapy, both zoledronate or denosumab were well tolerated and effective for bone mineral density of the lumbar spine and femoral neck.
ACR CONVERGENCE 2021—Using pooled data from the TULIP-1 and TULIP-2 clinical trials, researchers set out to identify whether more patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) being treated with anifrolumab achieved a low disease activity state than patients with SLE who received placebo.1-3 An analysis of the data was presented at ACR Convergence 2021 by Eric…
Secher et al. evaluated the risk of pre-eclampsia in pregnant patients with RA, axSpA or PsA, assessing the effect of disease activity and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs on this risk.
Two recent trials demonstrated the safety and efficacy of risankizumab-rzaa for the treatment of adults with active psoriatic arthritis.