Rheumatoid Arthritis

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who had inadequate response to previous biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs found greater pain relief when taking 2 mg or 4 mg of baricitinib compared with placebo.

The findings led the team to believe a focus on treatment strategy, rather than disease activity, is more indicative of aortic distensibility improvement.

Data from the SELECT-MONOTHERAPY trial in patients with rheumatoid arthritis show that upadacitinib improved outcomes in pain, physical function, health-related quality of life, and morning stiffness.

Obesity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis has been found to influence the effectiveness of JAKi inhibitor treatments.

Eric M. Ruderman, MD, addresses adverse events and toxicities in patients taking disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

Investigators assessed the risk of developing malignancies or serious infections with JAK inhibitors for RA treatment.

Patients with active rheumatoid arthritis who are cs/bDMARD-naïve may see a greater reduction in pain and improvement in physical function on baricitinib monotherapy compared with monotherapy of tocilizumab or adalimumab.

The following medications were decreased most frequently and also associated with the greatest impact in terms of reduction of annual cost: adalimumab, etanercept, and rituximab.

The updated label includes safety and efficacy data about the use of rituximab as follow-up treatment for patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis and microscopic polyangiitis.

A subcutaneous formulation of tocilizumab (Actemra) is now approved for the treatment of active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis in patients at least 2 years old.

At 12 weeks, patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving filgotinib responded and achieved low disease activity at significantly higher rates compared to placebo.

Researchers suggested that anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C and E could delay or even reduce the risk of AMD in patients with gout, as they have been proven to have a beneficial effect in patients with AMD.

Daily upadacitinib monotherapy 15 mg/30 mg met both primary endpoints with 52%/56% of methotrexate patients achieving ACR50 at week 12 and 48%/50% achieving clinical remission at week 24.

After rejecting the drug in 2017, the FDA approved the 2 mg dose of baricitinib (Olumiant) for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis.

Upon unearthing rheumatoid arthritis’ epigenome, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have also discovered an overlap between the causes of rheumatoid arthritis and Huntington’s disease.

The BLA was originally accepted by the FDA for review in September 2017, with the product intended to be used for the treatment of immunological conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, as well as blood cancers.

The committee recommends the approval of baricitinib 2-mg, but not 4-mg; this comes a year after baricitinib was rejected by the FDA.

Upadacitinib (15 mg, once-daily) met both primary endpoints, with 71% of patients achieving ACR20 and 29% achieving clinical remission at week 12.

This morning, AbbVie revealed positive top-line results from the Phase 3 SELECT-COMPARE clinical trial evaluating upadacitinib in rheumatoid arthritis.

This morning, Novartis announced that the U.S. FDA has accepted its Biologics License Application for the proposed biosimilar adalimumab to the reference medicine, Humira, developed by AbbVie, Inc.

The Biologics License Application is for another biosimilar to AbbVie's best-selling Humira drug.

The monotherapy resulted in LDA by week 14 in both the 15 mg (45%) and 30 mg (53%) groups.

Improvement in DAS28 scores was statistically significant in 26% of patients using adalimumab every 3 weeks compared to every 2 weeks.

The response letter indicated the need for additional clinical data in order to further evaluate sirukumab's safety profile.

The long-term study shows biosimilar adalimumab, if approved, will further improve access to treatment for immunological diseases.

The study showed positive results in a difficult-to-treat patient population.

The Arthritis Advisory Committee unanimously supported the drug’s efficacy data, but not it’s safety profile.

Everything the clinician needs to stay connected.

In a letter to the company, the FDA cited safety and dosage concerns as major factors in their decision.

The drug is now approved for psoriatic arthritis treatment in adults.