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Search results for: tocilizumab

Anti-Interleukin-6 Therapy for Erdheim-Chester Disease Warrants Study

Stefanie D. Wade, MD, Michael A. Seidman, MD, Edward C. Jones, MD, Arnold Radu, MD, Ryan Paterson, MD, Vikram Deshpande, MD, John H. Stone, MD, & Mollie N. Carruthers, MD  |  

Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare, non-Langerhan’s cell histiocytosis characterized by tissue infiltration of CD68-positive and CD1a-negative foamy histiocytes.1 ECD was discovered as a lipid granulomatosis in 1930 by Jakob Erdheim and his pupil, William Chester, and approximately 500 cases have been described to date.1 ECD has a heterogeneous course and prognosis ranging from an…

Potential New Maintenance Therapies for Vasculitides Revealed

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—New insights into maintenance therapy for patients with vasculitides were covered by several speakers at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting abstract session titled, Vasculitis I: Novel Approaches to Therapy. Expert Hubert de Boysson, MD, MSc, of the Internal Medicine Department at Caen University Hospital in France, led discussion on new therapies for patients with…

Biomedical Research Key to Advancing Clinical Care for Rheumatic Diseases

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—The importance of biomedical research to advancing clinical care with the ultimate goal of improving patients’ lives was on display during an ACR Discovery 2016 plenary session at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The session offered new ways to think about and treat select rheumatologic diseases, including research showing for the first time the…

Targeted Therapy for Scleroderma Fibrosis

Sara R. Schoenfeld, MD, & Flavia V. Castelino, MD  |  

Scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis (SSc), is an autoimmune disease characterized by vasculopathy and fibrosis. Although relatively rare, with a prevalence in North America of approximately 300 per 1 million people, SSc is associated with significant morbidity and high rates of mortality.1 Patients with scleroderma have four times greater mortality than age- and sex-matched controls, with…

Rheumatology Drug Updates: Abaloparatide Promising for Osteoporosis, Plus Secukinumab for Ankylosing Spondylitis

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Abaloparatide for Osteoporosis Abaloparatide is completing Phase III clinical trials for the potential treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis in women who are at an increased risk of fracture.1 Abaloparatide is a synthetic peptide that engages the parathyroid hormone receptor and has favorable bone building activity. Abaloparatide has completed Phase 3 development for use as a daily…

New Large-Vessel Vasculitis Therapies Emerge, but Better Options Still Needed

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LONDON—New therapies are emerging for the two main forms of large-vessel vasculitis, giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu’s arteritis—particularly biologic therapies. But for just about every available treatment gap, drawbacks or limited evidence remain, with the results needing to be borne out in larger trials, an expert said at the Annual Congress of the European…

Roche Gets Boost from FDA in Bid to Expand Uses for Actemra

Reuters Staff  |  

ZURICH (Reuters)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough status to Roche’s rheumatoid arthritis medication Actemra (tocilizumab) for giant cell arteritis, the Swiss drugmaker said, a step which could help it broaden applications for the medicine. Giant cell arteritis is a chronic, potentially life-threatening autoimmune condition caused by inflammation of large and medium-sized arteries,…

Diagnostic Criteria, Classification Lacking for Vasculitis; New Research in Treatment for Systemic Sclerosis

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LONDON—Despite the detailed terminology for describing vasculitis established by the Chapel Hill Consensus (CHC) in 2012, the field badly needs better classification and diagnostic criteria for the group of diseases, an expert said in a presentation at the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR 2016). It’s a topic that is now being…

Rheumatology Drug Updates: Ixekizumab Improves Work Productivity, plus Vobarilizumab Completes Phase 2 Trial in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Ixekizumab Improves Work Productivity in Patients with Plaque Psoriasis Indirect costs of reduced work productivity can have a significant impact on a patient’s quality of life. A recent article published in JAMA Dermatology analyzed the results of three multicenter, randomized double-blind Phase 3 trials, UNCOVER-1, UNCOVER-2 and UNCOVER-3, which evaluated the effect of ixekizumab on…