After a study investigated if hydroxycholoroquine (HCQ) benefits COVID-19 patients, the drug—used to treat SLE and RA patients—began running out in pharmacies around the U.S. ACR leaders have asked the FDA to increase monitoring of the HCQ supply…
(Reuters)—U.S. drugmakers Eli Lilly and Co. and Bristol Myers Squibb said they are delaying the start of new clinical trials in part to free up doctors and healthcare facilities to deal with the surge in patients infected with the new coronavirus. Lilly and Bristol are the biggest drugmakers yet to announce clinical trial delays in…
March 23 (Reuters)—Roche Holding AG said on Monday it has received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration‘s clearance to test its rheumatoid arthritis treatment on patients hospitalized with severe pneumonia caused by the coronavirus. The company said it was beginning a late-stage study to test the drug in what would be the first well-controlled study…
A study investigating sarilumab’s effects on patients with COVID-19 has begun in New York. The treatment blocks IL-6, which may play a role in the respiratory distress caused by the virus…
On Dec. 30, 2019, an ophthalmologist named Li Wenliang notified his colleagues about an illness that was reminiscent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in a city in the Hubei province of China called Wuhan. As an ophthalmologist, this was not directly relevant to his practice; he merely wanted to warn colleagues that they might…
ATLANTA—Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), a subset of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) disease, can be a fatal result of rheumatic disease. But there’s good news: New therapeutic options for refractory MAS targeting individual cytokines are emerging. At the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting, possible therapeutic options were presented during a pediatric-focused clinical and translational research track, Therapeutic Approaches…
ATLANTA—With more than 3,000 abstracts from 103 countries presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting in November, it was impossible for attendees to view them all. However, two ACR/ARP veterans—Arthur Kavanaugh, MD, from the University of California, San Diego, and John Cush, MD, from UT Southwestern Medical School, Dallas—chose to tackle the nearly impossible task and…
In this time of COVID-19, you may be considering ways to deliver routine rheumatologic care via some form of telemedicine. Here are some of the legal considerations.