In July 2017, Todd A. Graham, MD, a practicing orthopedic surgeon in South Bend, Ind., was fatally shot after getting into a heated dispute with a patient and her husband over a requested opioid prescription.1 The murder of Dr. Graham is a tragic example of the potential dangers of physician-patient disagreements. Rheumatology patients often endure…
A yearlong pilot study that evaluated the safety and efficacy of belimumab in a small group of patients with early diffuse systemic sclerosis found no significant difference in the number of adverse events between those treated with the drug and those who received a placebo. Currently, no drugs are approved specifically for the treatment of…
After an independent review, ongoing clinical trials investigating the safety of fasinumab for treating hip or knee OA will discontinue the use of higher fasinumab doses…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Romosozumab shows smaller benefits for increasing bone mineral density (BMD) in the second year of treatment compared to the first, new research suggests. The extension of a phase 2 study in postmenopausal women with low bone mass also found BMD decreased sharply when patients on romosozumab were switched to placebo after two…
The FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee has recommended the approval of 2 mg baricitinib (but not in a 4 mg dose) for treating adults with moderate to severe active RA…
In Japan the use of guselkumab to treat erythrodermic, plaque and pustular psoriasis is approved, and anakinra is now indicated for Still’s disease in the E.U…
(Reuters)—An experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug developed by Eli Lilly and Co. and Incyte Corp. poses serious risks of deadly blood clots at higher doses, U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff says, the latest setback to a treatment regulators declined to approve last year. New data provided by the companies in a resubmission of their marketing…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The RANKL inhibitor denosumab is superior to the bisphosphonate risedronate in increasing bone-mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine in patients just starting or continuing steroid therapy, according to 12-month results of a 24-month randomized controlled study. “Glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis is the most common form of secondary osteoporosis and increases the risk of…
Initial results from an ongoing trial show that upadacitinib outperforms adalimumab in achieving ACR20 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis…
The FDA has expanded the label for insulin degludec to include data on improved cardiovascular outcomes and deceased severe hypoglycemia…