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An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Articles tagged with "Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)"

Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk Lower Among Smokers Who Quit

Lisa Rapaport  |  

(Reuters Health)—Adults who quit smoking decades ago may have a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) than people who gave up cigarettes more recently, a U.S. study suggests. Smoking has long been linked to an increased risk of RA, and quitting can reduce this risk. But the new study offers fresh evidence that years of…

Upadacitinib at the FDA

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Upadacitinib is an investigational, oral, small molecule JAK1-selective inhibitor, which recently completed phase 3 clinical trials for treating patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In late 2018, AbbVie Inc. submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as a marketing authorization application to the European Medicines Agency,…

The Effects of Early RA Treatment on CVD

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New research exploring the effects of etanercept on cardiovascular disease in treatment-naive, early RA patients suggests a treatment advantage with etanercept, a TNF inhibitor and methotrexate over treatment with methotrexate and a conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug…

RA Effectiveness Differs Among Non-TNF Inhibitors

Will Boggs, MD  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) outcomes are better with some non-TNF inhibitors than with others, according to French registry data. “Previously, indirect comparisons (meta-analyses) did not show any difference between biologics in terms of effectiveness,” Dr. Jacques-Eric Gottenberg from Strasbourg University Hospital, France, tells Reuters Health by email. “Our direct comparison using observational data…

Reminder: How to Handle Part D Prior Authorization Requests

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Note: Although originally posted in January 2018, the advice below remains valid. We see this issue recur each year. As we begin another new year, many rheumatology practices will again receive prior authorization requests from Medicare Part D for all methotrexate prescriptions. When methotrexate is used as a chemotherapeutic drug, it’s covered by Part B,…

Annual Meeting Speakers Review Studies Ranging from Opioids to Fibroblasts

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CHICAGO—Findings on opioid efficacy, serum urate in osteoarthritis and arthrocentesis headlined the top research of the year discussed in the first half of a session at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The second half covered basic science findings, including summaries of new insights into the gender bias in autoimmune diseases, platelet microparticles in scleroderma and…