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

Adverse Events More Common with Off-Label Drug Use

Will Boggs, MD  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Adverse drug events (ADEs) are more common when drugs are used off label, especially when the off-label use lacks strong scientific evidence, researchers from Canada report. “Our study demonstrated that physicians need to be cautious in prescribing off-label when there is a lack of strong scientific evidence for the use of the…

Genetic Data Suggest Dividing IBD into 3 Forms

Will Boggs, MD  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Data from a genetic association study suggest that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) should be divided into a three-group continuum, rather than the current division between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. “The current clinical classifications of IBD, while important and useful, are a simplification of the true biological variation of this disease,” Dr….

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…

Rectosigmoidoscopy vs. Colonoscopy for Assessing Ulcerative Colitis Activity

Reuters Health  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—In most cases, rectosigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy assessments of disease activity in ulcerative colitis yield the same results, researchers report. “In clinical practice, rectosigmoidoscopy is enough to assess endoscopic activity and endoscopic healing,” Dr. Jean-Frédéric Colombel from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, N.Y., told Reuters Health by email. Dr. Colombel and…

Signatures to Be Filed for California Drug Price Referendum

Sharon Bernstein  |  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters)—Backers of a referendum aimed at reducing the cost of prescription drugs in California said Wednesday that they had gathered more than enough signatures to place their measure on the November 2016 ballot in the most populous U.S. state. The measure by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation would require the state to pay no…

Sleep Apnea Tied to Gout Flares

Kathryn Doyle  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Sleep apnea may increase the risk of developing gout and experiencing flare-ups, according to a new study. Until now, little was known about the relationship between the two conditions, the study team writes in an article online Oct. 19 in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Obesity plays an important role in both sleep apnea…

Specialized Health Care May Be Lacking under Obamacare Plans

Andrew M. Seaman  |  

(Reuters Health)—Some health insurance plans sold on the Affordable Care Act‘s federal marketplace may not provide reasonable access to medical specialists, new research suggests. Under the act, also known as Obamacare, the federal marketplace offers subsidized private health insurance to consumers in states that didn’t establish their own health insurance exchanges. About one in seven…

Don’t Bank on U.S. Drug Price Rises, Warns GSK Boss

Ben Hirschler  |  

LONDON (Reuters)—Pharmaceutical companies cannot depend on ever increasing prices in the U.S. and will need to find a new balance between incentives for innovation and access to medicines, according to the chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline. High drug prices have come under fierce political fire recently in America, the industry’s biggest and most profitable market, with…

Low-Grade Inflammation in Symptomatic Knee OA

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Although osteoarthritis (OA) was formerly considered a non-inflammatory joint disease, it’s now well-appreciated that inflammatory mediators, such as PGE2 and IL-1β, are produced by osteoarthritic joint tissues and can be used to identify patients with symptomatic knee OA. A peripheral blood leukocyte inflammatory transcriptome identifies a subset of symptomatic knee OA patients at higher risk for radiographic progression and may reflect persistent low-grade joint inflammation…

The Lupus Initiative Receives 5-Year CDC Grant

American College of Rheumatology  |  

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded the American College of Rheumatology’s (ACR) The Lupus Initiative (TLI) with a five-year grant to support the development of a national, grassroots program targeting primary care providers, persons with undiagnosed Lupus and rheumatology health care providers. The program will have three components: Immediate dissemination of…