Brentuximab Vedotin Enters Phase 2 Trials Brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris), an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed at CD30, is currently entering Phase 2 clinical trials for treating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).1 The ADC encompasses an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody, which is attached by a protease-cleavable linker to a microtubule-disrupting agent, known as monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE). The ADC…
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters)—In recent days, the largest U.S. managers of private prescription drug benefits have cut off at least eight pharmacies that work closely with drugmakers, intensifying scrutiny of a system that helps inflate drug prices, officials at the benefit managers told Reuters. The terminations come from payers who together manage drug benefits for…
Case report: A 60-year-old Hispanic male with poorly controlled hypertension was sent from the primary care clinic for evaluation of malignant hypertension with a systolic blood pressure above 200 mmHg. His symptoms at the time of presentation included episodic confusion, worsening vision and an unsteady gait. A head computed tomography (CT) scan showed a subacute…
I am a few weeks post-retirement. Having written thank you notes and completed urgent home projects, I swing in a hammock at our currently fire-threatened cabin north of Winthrop, Wash., and reflect. I feel like a young boy while freely flipping pages of a hand-scribed picture book, The Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman. She…
Case report: A 78-year-old Caucasian female presented to our outpatient rheumatology clinic with pain in her bilateral shoulders, hands and knees that began suddenly one month earlier. She admitted to stiffness in her hands lasting several hours, and expressed an inability to extend her fingers. She denied fever, rashes, jaw claudication, headache or visual changes….
Temporal arteritis was first described by Sir Jonathan Hutchinson in 1890 in an elderly retired gentleman’s servant who developed red, painful streaks on his temples and was found to have bilaterally swollen temporal arteries with feeble pulses.1 Sir Hutchinson disputed the suggestion that the red streaks were caused by the man’s hat and, instead, called…
Michael Lockshin, MD, reminds medical professionals that patients suffering from antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) don’t respond to medications in the same way as patients with other clotting-related diseases. Insufficient evidence exists to determine whether the new wave of anticoagulant medications is safe for use in patients with APS…
In multiple trials, baricitinib has proved promising for treating RA. Also, the FDA is requiring drug-interaction studies for sodium polystyrene sulfonate…
NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, is working to improve funding for research into new treatments for lupus and RA through the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, a coalition of private and public partners identifying and validating promising biological targets for therapeutics…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Providing more care than necessary may work to lower a doctor’s risk of being accused of malpractice, suggests a new U.S. study. Although the results can’t prove extra expenditures are due to defensive medicine, the researchers found that doctors in Florida who provided the most costly care between 2000 and 2009 were…