Focus Rheums| ACR Convergence 2024 Previews

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

Articles tagged with "Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)"

Higher Tocilizumab Dose Plus Methotrexate Best for Early RA

Reuters Staff  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Tocilizumab improves remission rates and slows disease progression in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a new randomized controlled trial demonstrates. Tocilizumab was effective both on its own and when combined with methotrexate, Dr. Gerd R. Burmester of Charite Medical University of Berlin and his colleagues found. Tocilizumab, an interleukin-6 (IL-6) blocker,…

CD64 May Be an RA-Specific Biomarker

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A new study found patients with early RA had increased membrane and soluble CD64. After receiving anti-rheumatic therapy, patients’ symptoms and CD64 levels decreased, suggesting CD64 is an RA biomarker…

Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Have More Severe ACS, Poorer Outcomes

Shannon Aymes  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with more-severe acute coronary syndrome and poorer outcomes, according to a new study. “We found that despite the well-researched increased risk of acute coronary events (ACS) in RA, that there was almost no existing data describing clinical characteristics and outcomes of RA- and non-RA patients with ACS,”…

Methotrexate Halt Feasible in Some Etanercept RA Responders

David Douglas  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Certain rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients doing well on etanercept and methotrexate may be able to quit the latter agent if they have tolerability problems, according to an open-label Canadian study. In a Sept. 11 online paper in Rheumatology, Dr. Boulos Haraoui, of the University of Montreal, and colleagues noted that although combination…

Depression & Anxiety Linked to Poor Rheumatoid Arthritis Outcomes

Rob Goodier  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Rheumatoid arthritis patients with depression and anxiety symptoms may have worse outcomes and poorer response to prednisolone, a secondary analysis of the CARDERA trial has found. “The strength of association between depression/anxiety and disease activity outcomes and treatment response warrants routine screening,” the study’s lead author Faith Matcham at King’s College London…

Can We Get Closer to a Cure for RA?

Marc Feldmann & Ravinder N. Maini  |  

Despite new therapeutics, progress for RA patients has virtually stalled over the past 10 years. In this article, the authors discuss many options to advance to a cure and the evidence for them, including the combination of low-dose methotrexate and anti-TNF; targeting angiogenesis and tissue damage pathways directly; antigen-specific therapy; potential combination of TNF and IL17 blockade; and targeting inhibitory receptors and regulatory T cells.