Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in connective tissue disease (CTD) features significant morbidity and mortality. Standard therapies with endothelin receptor antagonists and phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors have shown some clinical improvement in patients, but these clinical improvements have proved modest when compared with other types of PAH. As our case below suggests, rituximab may show promise as a…
In the complex web of interactions between systemic inflammatory response, rheumatic disease and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), what is the potential for using rheumatologic therapies to treat other medical conditions linked to inflammation? Some medical researchers have looked at cardiac conditions, and others have examined the overlap with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Positive effects…
ZURICH (Reuters)—Novartis plans up to 10 clinical trials over three years using a U.S. partner’s mobile technology to help free patients from burdensome hospital trips as the Swiss drugmaker aims to boost study participation and cut costs. Novartis said on Wednesday it would work with Science 37, a California-based company that provides technology including smart…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Life expectancy in the United States dipped in 2016 as the number of deaths due to opioid drug overdoses surged and total drug overdose deaths rose 21% to 63,600, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. Life expectancy fell to 78.6 years, a decrease of 0.1 year from 2015,…
(Reuters)—AmerisourceBergen Corp said it expects stubbornly low generic drug prices, which have plagued drugmakers and wholesalers, to not deteriorate further next year, and brushed off concerns about Amazon’s possible entry into the industry. The drug distributor ended its fiscal year with a quarterly loss as it set aside $575 million for legal costs for a…
ZURICH (Reuters)—Swiss drugmaker Novartis is to cut 450 jobs in the United States over the next two years as it gradually shuts a generics manufacturing plant in Colorado and discontinues some products in the face of intense price pressures. “To remain competitive in the U.S., Novartis will discontinue or divest limited growth products in saturated…
(Reuters)—Health insurer Anthem Inc will start managing its billions of dollars of patient prescriptions itself in 2020, it said on Wednesday, ending a deal with Express Scripts Holding that had deteriorated into lawsuits over terms. Anthem, which sued the pharmacy benefit manager last year over claims of being overcharged by $3 billion annually, said it…
(Reuters Health)—Medical devices approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are often cleared before studies on their safety or effectiveness have been released to the public, a report suggests. Without published data, doctors and patients may not be able to make informed decisions about whether to use the products, the authors warn. The…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy unit were ordered by a Texas federal jury on Thursday to pay a total of about $500 million to five plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants. Following a two-month trial, jurors found that the Pinnacle hips were defectively designed, and that the…
(Reuters)—Numerous small biotechnology companies have been all but shut out of the capital markets, leaving many with no choice but to consider a sale to larger peers. The Nasdaq Biotech Index is down nearly 30% since September, when Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticized drug companies’ “price gouging” on Twitter and sparked concerns about a…