ATLANTA—Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), a subset of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) disease, can be a fatal result of rheumatic disease. But there’s good news: New therapeutic options for refractory MAS targeting individual cytokines are emerging. At the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting, possible therapeutic options were presented during a pediatric-focused clinical and translational research track, Therapeutic Approaches…
ATLANTA—With more than 3,000 abstracts from 103 countries presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting in November, it was impossible for attendees to view them all. However, two ACR/ARP veterans—Arthur Kavanaugh, MD, from the University of California, San Diego, and John Cush, MD, from UT Southwestern Medical School, Dallas—chose to tackle the nearly impossible task and…
ATLANTA—A key goal for rheumatology researchers and clinicians is to predict through specific biomarkers if someone will, at some point in their future, develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA). If so, the disease could be prevented or stopped before the inflammation and ravaging begins, explained researchers during a Basic Science lecture at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting…
(Reuters)—Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. said on Tuesday it had identified hundreds of antibodies that could treat or prevent the coronavirus (COVID-19) and was preparing to begin clinical trials by early summer, sending the drugmaker’s shares up 12%. The company will select the top two antibodies to develop a “cocktail” treatment and scale up its manufacturing to…
Effective immediately, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has stated it will not impose any noncompliance penalties under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) on physicians using any non-public facing service or audio or video communication technology (e.g., Apple FaceTime, Skype, Facebook Messenger, etc.) for telehealth services. This discretion applies to telehealth…
President Trump announced that CMS will broaden access to telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CMS published a fact sheet outlining the types of visits that will be covered, the providers eligible to use the expanded services and coding considerations. The ACR is working with other specialty societies and the AMA to provide additional…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—High-intensity statins are associated with a lower risk of joint replacement, new findings show. “Statins at high intensity may reduce the risk of hip and knee replacement. The effect may be RA specific,” Dr. Aliya Sarmanova of the University of Nottingham, U.K., and colleagues write in Rheumatology.1 Statins have anti-inflammatory effects, and…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—In daily clinical practice, following a treat-to-target (T2T) strategy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) leads to higher rates of remission compared with not following a T2T strategy, according to a longitudinal analysis of real world data. “The results of the analysis provide direct evidence that following T2T, and particularly sustained T2T,…
(Reuters)—Sanofi SA and partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. have started a clinical trial of their rheumatoid arthritis drug Kevzara (sarilumab) as a treatment for the coronavirus, the companies said on Monday. Enrolments for the mid-to-late stage trial will begin immediately, and the companies anticipate the trial will test up to 400 patients. Sarilumab is an infection-fighting…
In Canada, five provinces will now reimburse patients with plaque psoriasis who use risankizumab. Also, Canada Health has approved apremilast for treating adults with plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis…