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Amneal Running Out of HCQ Raw Material Due to Finnish Restrictions

Michael Erman & Anne Kauranen  |  

NEW YORK/HELSINKI (Reuters)—Amneal Pharmaceuticals could soon run out of the raw ingredients to make more of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) that has been touted as a potential treatment for COVID-19 because Finland is keeping the drug for domestic use, according to the generic drugmaker’s chief executives. Amneal has committed to producing about 20 million…

Cortisone Shots Less Effective Than PT for Arthritis-Related Knee Pain

Gene Emery  |  

(Reuters Health)—People with stiff and aching knees due to arthritis get better relief from physical therapy than from cortisone injections, according to a one-year military study comparing the two treatments. A multi-disciplinary team of doctors reports in The New England Journal of Medicine that people who initially scored 107 on a 241-point scale measuring a…

A Transition to 90% Telemedicine: Q&A with Karim Masri, MD

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How are COVID-19 and current restrictions on physical distancing affecting rheumatologists? The Rheumatologist interviewed Karim Masri, MD, to ask how the pandemic has changed the way he and his clinic staff deliver patient care, and how these unprecedented times affect patients, staff and life outside the office. Dr. Masri is a practicing rheumatologist at Bon…

FDA Accelerates Approvals of Generic Versions of HCQ

U.S. Food and Drug Administration  |  

On April 7, the FDA approved an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate Tablets USP, 200 mg, for the treatment of: 1) uncomplicated malaria due to P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale and P. vivax; 2) chronic discoid lupus erythematosus and systemic lupus erythematosus in adults; and 3) treatment of acute and chronic…

UnitedHealthcare to Implement Fail-First Requirement for Self-Administered Orencia

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On April 1, UnitedHealthcare (UHC) announced updates to its Orencia policy, effective July 1, 2020. The change requires patients to fail to respond to the self-administered formulation of this drug prior to obtaining authorization for the physician-administered product. The ACR has been in communication with UHC about this policy since October 2019, when the payer…

Should Biologic Therapy in Dermatology Be Interrupted During the Pandemic?

Reuters Staff  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic has raised concerns about whether biologic therapy could make psoriasis patients more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19. Mark Lebwohl, MD, from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and colleagues address this issue in a letter in the Journal of the…