(Reuters Health)—Media reports raising safety concerns about osteoporosis drugs known as bisphosphonates may have contributed to a sharp drop in their use—even though U.S. doctors and drug regulators haven’t recommended against taking them, a study suggests. Fosamax (alendronate sodium) won U.S. marketing approval in 1995. Widespread use of the drug and others like it over…
New Study Examines Pregnancy Risk Factors for Patients with Lupus
Important new findings show that a majority of women with inactive or stable SLE can have successful pregnancies without experiencing flares and give birth to infants who survive the neonatal period…
Certolizumab Pegol Effective for Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Certolizumab pegol, a humanized anti-TNF antibody fragment conjugated to polyethylene glycol, is effective for treating early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with poor prognostic factors, according to results from the C-OPERA study. Certolizumab is approved in the U.S. and other countries for treating inflammatory diseases, including RA, but its effectiveness in methotrexate-naïve early RA…
Tofacitinib Not Tied to More Malignancies in RA Patients
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The oral Janus kinase inhibitor tofacitinib (Xeljanz, Pfizer) does not increase the risk of malignancies, according to pooled data from more than 5000 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. In an April 22 online paper in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Dr. Lisy Wang of Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut, and colleagues noted that in RA…
Family History Not Linked to Clinical Presentation, Treatment Response of RA
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Having a family history of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) does not appear to influence the clinical presentation or treatment response of RA to standard medications, researchers from Sweden report. “At first we were a bit surprised by our findings,” Dr. Thomas Frisell from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm told Reuters Health by email. “Patients…
Teriparatide to Denosumab Switch Helpful in Osteoporosis
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—In postmenopausal osteoporotic women, changing from teriparatide to denosumab benefits bone mineral density (BMD) but switching from denosumab to teriparatide may result in bone loss, according to new research. In a July 3 online paper in The Lancet, Dr. Benjamin Z. Leder, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues noted that many…
Secukinumab Effective for Treating Psoriatic Arthritis
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The anti-interleukin-17A monoclonal antibody secukinumab improves signs and symptoms in patients with psoriatic arthritis, according to results from Novartis’ FUTURE 2 trial. In earlier studies, secukinumab has demonstrated superior effectiveness to placebo and etanercept in improving the signs and symptoms of psoriasis. Dr. Iain B. McInnes from the University of Glasgow in…
Phase 3 Studies Evaluate Lesinurad for Gout Treatment
For 12 months, two studies examined the use of lesinurad in combination with allopurinol to treat gout, with patients achieving reduced serum uric acid levels and demonstrating no severe toxicity.
Polymyalgia Rheumatica Misdiagnosis Results in Positive Outcome
In late February 2011, a 68-year-old woman visited the rheumatology outpatient clinic. She had been congenitally healthy and had been a field athlete in her early days. Beginning in early January 2011, she became aware of pain in her neck and both shoulders, with pain spreading to her lower back and thighs. She also became…
Odds Ratio Explained for MRI Imaging in Ankylosing Spondylitis
In the lead article, “Imaging in Ankylosing Spondylitis” (The Rheumatologist, April 2015), Dr. Pedersen states, “vertebral edges with MRI inflammation were three times as likely to develop new syndesmophytes than vertebral edges without inflammation (odds ratio [OR] 3.3; 95% CI: 1.5–7.4).” This statement is incorrect. An odds ratio of 3 does not imply that an…
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