SAN DIEGO—In a session at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, Kam Nola, PharmD, MS, professor in the College of Pharmacy and vice chair in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., updated participants on new medications and new indications for rheumatology treatments and safety labeling changes approved by the U.S. Food…
SAN DIEGO—In a presentation on what rheumatology nurses should know in their daily practice about disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting Nov. 3–8, Jessica Farrell, PharmD, highlighted the importance of educating and counseling patients about the range of treatments and applications for rheumatologic conditions. Dr. Farrell, a clinical pharmacist at the…
In November 2017, I went to Lucknow, India, where I would spend my time as an exchange fellow at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPIMS) as part of the ACR International Visiting Fellows Exchange Program. Where I Come From I completed my medical degree at Mahatma Gandhi Missions Medical College, Navi Mumbai…
If you are a news junkie, then you know that a tick-tock is a story that relies heavily on chronology, counting down the events of the day, in order, as inexorably as the ticking clock. These types of timeline stories have become very popular in the fast-paced world of modern politics, in which readers eat…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief, Scott Gottlieb, criticized pharmacy benefit managers, health insurers and drugmakers on Wednesday for “Kabuki drug-pricing constructs” that profit the industry at the expense of consumers. The comments, made at a conference organized by a leading U.S. health insurer lobbying group, stoked speculation over what steps the administration of…
Greetings, Advocates! Great news for the rheumatology community came on Feb. 9, when the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 was enacted. It contains several critical healthcare fixes pertinent to rheumatology. First, after hundreds of emails, meetings, letters to the editor, an op-ed, and a forceful 109-member coalition (led by the ACR and including many state…
The FDA recently expanded the indications for ferumoxytol injections to include the treatment of adults with iron-deficiency anemia…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The biosimilar LBEC0101 is equivalent to etanercept (Enbrel) in treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who respond inadequately to methotrexate, according to researchers from Korea and Japan. As Dr. Yeong-Wook Song tells Reuters Health by email, “LBEC0101 is comparable in efficacy, safety and immunogenicity profile to Enbrel.” The findings, he adds, could…
In the ever-changing healthcare delivery landscape, the ACR continues to go to work on behalf of its members to ensure public policies encourage delivery of high-quality rheumatology care and treatment. With stepped-up efforts to meet with federal administrative and Congressional representatives, and broadened coalitions of partners to strengthen advocacy for key issues important to the…
Rheumatologists working in every practice setting face a number of challenges that can seem insurmountable. How do you cost-effectively manage administrative burdens? How do you establish an efficient and effective approach to capturing quality metrics? How do you maintain the critical elements of the care you provide, such as diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound and patient access…