The words genetically modified are making people run for the hills these days. Not so when it comes to arthritis care, however. In the lab of one pioneering researcher, genetic engineering is catapulting arthritis treatment years ahead. Farshid Guilak, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University, St. Louis, and…
Continually building awareness and understanding of rheumatic diseases is critical to both our profession and patient care, according to Kelly Weselman, MD, a rheumatologist in Smyrna, Ga., and a passionate advocate involved in planning the ACR’s annual Rheumatic Disease Awareness Month (RDAM). “Unlike cancer patients, whose disease is well known, patients battling a rheumatic disease…
(Reuters)—The benefits of Johnson and Johnson’s experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug sirukumab do not outweigh the risks, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Wednesday. The panel voted 12-1 that the drug should not be approved, citing safety concerns, including an imbalance in the number of deaths in patients taking sirukumab…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—A U.S. Senate led by Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans dealt the president a harsh blow on Friday, failing to move ahead with a major campaign promise to dismantle Obamacare as they fell one vote short of passing healthcare legislation. Three senators—John McCain (R-Az.), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.)—joined Senate Democrats in the…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—After a months-long struggle, Republicans have succeeded in bringing Obamacare repeal legislation, a centerpiece of their 2016 election campaigns, to a debate on the U.S. Senate floor. Now the hard part begins. Republicans, deeply divided over the proper role of the government in helping low-income people receive healthcare, eked out a procedural win on…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) will return to the U.S. capitol on Tuesday to play what could be a crucial role in salvaging Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare and keep their years-long pledge to unwind the 2010 healthcare overhaul. McCain, who is battling brain cancer, is set to help decide whether the repeal push will…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. Senate Republicans, scolded by President Donald Trump for failing to overturn Obamacare, tried to salvage their seven-year effort for a new healthcare law on Thursday, but leading senators indicated frustration over shifting goal posts. Trump on Wednesday told the Senate’s fractured Republican majority to revive a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare that…
Two biosimilar treatments, Rixathon and Imraldi, are moving closer to market release in Europe for the treatment of rheumatic and other diseases…
CHICAGO—Leonard H. Calabrese, DO, professor of medicine at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, presented on emerging concepts of viral infections and rheumatic disease at the ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium in April. “We are at a pivotal point in rheumatology in understanding the relationship between viruses and rheumatic disease,” began Dr. Calabrese. “It’s a very exciting time.” Dr. Calabrese…
CHICAGO—On a Saturday morning in Chicago, Chester V. Oddis, MD, director of the Myositis Center at the University of Pittsburgh, explained to a crowded room of about 500 rheumatologists attending the ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium in April how best to use myositis autoantibodies in clinical care. He began with an overview of the different types of…