It seems to have begun in Norway, the international pressure to switch patients from well-known brand biologic agents, such as Remicade (infliximab), to biosimilar agents, due to a significant cost advantage.1 This biosimilar came with a 39% price markdown last year compared with the brand, and when Norway called for bids, the discount went to…
Glucocorticoids: The Debate Continues Déjà vu … In past decades, rheumatologists have seen, heard, practiced and taught much of what has been argued in the “ongoing debate” on the use of glucocorticoids (GCs) in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).1 It is heartening to note that eminent professors have stuck to their premise all these…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Tofacitinib is better than placebo (and noninferior to etanercept) for treating patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis, according to Pfizer’s OPT Compare trial. In an earlier 12-week, phase 2b, dose-ranging trial, the oral JAK inhibitor tofacitinib proved to be more effective than placebo for treating patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Based on…
For six years, the Psoriasis Longitudinal Assessment and Registry (PSOLAR) has collected data to assess the infection risk for drugs treating systemic psoriasis.
(Reuters)—The National Institutes of Health said on Thursday it had suspended operations of a facility that makes products used for clinical research after the discovery of fungal contamination in two vials of albumin. Vials made from the same batch of albumin had been administered to six patients, though it is not known if those were…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Real-world psoriasis patients receiving biologic therapies rarely stop taking the drugs because of adverse effects, researchers say. Although data from long-term registries have shown similar results, “the demographics of patients in registries are somewhat different than those of patients in real-world practices,” Dr. Jensen Yeung told Reuters Health by email. “I have…
Brodalumab, an interleukin (IL) 17 inhibitor, is currently in early clinical trials (Phase 1b and Phase 2) for a number of different autoimmune diseases.1 Amgen recently terminated its co-development and commercialization agreement with AstraZeneca for the brodalumab investigational program in trials for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis. Amgen’s decision to…
The high out-of-pocket costs of biologic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) place “enormous financial strain” on Medicare beneficiaries and may limit therapy adherence, according to the lead author of a national investigation into Part D coverage and cost-sharing structures. Recently published online in Arthritis & Rheumatology, the study analyzed 2,737 Part D plan formularies for…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Antibodies to infliximab in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treated with Janssen’s Remicade cross-react with the biosimilar Remsima from Celltrion (distributed as Inflectra by Hospira in the U.S.), researchers from Israel report. “The cross-reactivity of anti-Remicade antibodies with Remsima attests to shared immune triggering points (epitopes) on these two agents, and…
LONDON (Reuters)—AstraZeneca’s hopes of topping $45 billion in revenue by 2023 have been dealt a blow by a problem with an experimental psoriasis drug that the drugmaker had viewed as a potential billion-dollar plus seller. Amgen, its partner on the project, announced late on Friday it was ending a collaboration to develop brodalumab after suicidal…