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

Upadacitinib Monotherapy Effective in Refractory Rheumatoid Arthritis

Will Boggs MD  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Monotherapy with the JAK1-selective inhibitor upadacitinib is effective in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis who have an inadequate response to methotrexate, according to results from the SELECT-MONOTHERAPY phase 3 trial. As many as two-thirds of patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving methotrexate monotherapy fail to achieve satisfactory disease control. Oral therapy with upadacitinib…

Peripheral Manifestations of Spondyloarthritis

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A recent study evaluated the factors associated with the presence of peripheral manifestations of spondyloarthritis (SpA), which affects more than half of patients with SpA. Researchers found that being older, HLAB27 negative and having a history of psoriasis were associated with these symptoms…

British Columbia Will Be First Canadian Province to Switch Patients to Biosimilars

Allison Martell & Allison Lampert  |  

TORONTO/MONTREAL (Reuters)—The Canadian province of British Columbia said on May 28 that its public drug plan will switch as many as 20,400 patients from three branded biologic drugs to cheap near-copies called biosimilars, saving an estimated C$96.6 million ($71.9 million) over three years. The new policy from the province’s PharmaCare program targets Johnson & Johnson’s…

WHO Drug Pricing Talks May Fail to End Secrecy, Activists Fear

Tom Miles  |  

GENEVA (Reuters)—Governments are working on a drug pricing transparency deal at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual assembly, but activists said on Thursday they fear crucial costs may be left out, enabling pharmaceutical firms to keep prices high. Campaigners say some drugs are exhorbitantly priced, even though they are often developed with public funding, and…

Social Conflict Seeps into Medical Societies

Tamara Mathias  |  

In U.S. medical society boardrooms, far from legislative chambers, social conflict is forcing board members to deal with laws that raise issues of medical ethics. Take the Association of University Radiologists (AUR), a group of more than a thousand medical school radiology faculty whose stated mission is to “inspire and educate the academic radiology community.”…

U.S. Supreme Court Tosses Ruling Against Merck on Fosamax Osteoporosis Drug

Andrew Chung  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—On May 20, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a lower court ruling that had revived hundreds of lawsuits accusing Merck & Co. of failing to properly warn patients of debilitating thigh-bone fractures as a result of taking its osteoporosis drug alendronic acid (Fosamax). The nine justices unanimously directed the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit…

Until Broadband Access Improves, Telemedicine Won’t Help Rural Communities

Linda Carroll  |  

(Reuters Health)—Telemedicine has been touted as a solution to the dearth of doctors in rural America. But the same places where residents must drive many miles to see a physician often also have limited broadband access, a new study suggests. About 25% of Americans live in rural communities while a mere 10% of physicians practice…