Rheumatologists are accustomed to educating patients about medications—but biologic medications require some additional time and discussion. “Biologics are inherently more complex [than other medications], and there are multiple issues to consider before initiating treatment,” says K. “Kwas” Huston, MD, The Center for Rheumatic Disease, Kansas City, Mo. “This includes the patient’s disease activity, prior medications…
It’s estimated that a majority of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been exposed to biologic treatments. However, the randomized controlled trials demonstrating the safety and efficacy of these biologic agents have strict participant eligibility requirements. New research has examined the requirements of 30 trials for biologics and applied those standards to two large clinical cohorts. The result: A majority of these RA patients did not satisfy the criteria…
LONDON—From optimizing responses to methotrexate, to the efficacy of biologics, to the need for imaging in assessing remission, the literature, as ever, has been lively with explorations of pressing topics in the treatment and management of rheumatoid arthritis. Josef Smolen, MD, chair of rheumatology at the Medical University of Vienna, reviewed many of the highlights…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Many patients with arthritis lack the knowledge to use their biologic treatments safely, researchers from France report. “Some patients are at risk of poorly managing their biologic therapy, especially patients living alone, in a large city, patients with low education level, or (patients who are) unemployed,” Dr. Anne-Christine Rat from CHU de…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The newer disease-modifying drugs for rheumatoid arthritis appear to offer the same or even better cardiovascular (CV) protection than older tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, hints a large study. “We really haven’t had a good understanding on where the non-TNF biologics and CV risk stand,” Dr. Jeffrey R. Curtis of the University…
Patient education has always been at the core of the nursing profession. Nurses pride themselves on being great teachers and patient advocates. When self-injectable biologics were first introduced to the market, one of the main goals was to make patients independent and put them in the driver’s seat of their own care. Yet without a…
ROME, Italy—Even with classification criteria that have been updated and refined over time, rheumatoid arthritis is still a diagnosis that ultimately has to be made with clinical judgment, said Ronald van Vollenhoven, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and chief of clinical therapy research in inflammatory diseases at the Karolinska University in Sweden. His remarks came…
The costs of some disease-modifying therapies outpace prescription drug inflation, saddling insured patients with thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket payments and delayed or denied coverage, two new studies have shown. Disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis are rising in cost five to seven times faster than inflation and cost more in the United States than in…
How vaccines, medications and rheumatic disease-related effects on immune system interact
Clinical trials on rheumatology drugs, including sarilumab, show promise for patients with rheumatoid arthritis also taking methotrexate