The FDA has fast-tracked the development of a drug to treat systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma; initial clinical trials started in June. Also, a major hospital group in France has selected the biosimilar infliximab to treat its patients with RA, Crohn’s disease and psoriasis…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Various organizations recommend dozens of screening and monitoring tests for patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis who are using systemic biologic agents, despite sparse evidence to support any of them. “At a population level, these medications have proven to be very safe and the evidence does not support such extensive and frequent…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Dose optimization of infliximab is needed much earlier in ulcerative colitis than in Crohn’s disease, a single-center retrospective study reveals. “We compared the rates of dose increases over a fairly lengthy period of time,” said Dr. Mark Silverberg, the study’s senior author from the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. “Patients with ulcerative…
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…
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…
Plus, updates on arhalofenate, ALO-02, and other rheumatology drug news, safety information
Case studies show some patients with LVV can achieve remission after treatment with biological agents
How to manage the risks when prescribing medications for patients in chronic pain
Referred to as -X modifiers, they are designed to define specific subsets of -59 modifier
A 65-year-old man presents with symptoms of erythrodermic psoriasis flare