SAN DIEGO—Top researchers gathered for a review course at the start of the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in November to describe new research, their own treatment strategies and new ways of thinking about an array of rheumatic diseases. Here are the highlights: Raynaud’s & Other Digit Problems When a patient walks into your clinic with…
Anemia is common in patients with systemic rheumatic disease, yet it may not get the attention it deserves. Anemia can result from chronic inflammation, treatment side effects or other disease factors, or it may signal an unrelated condition. Although diagnosis and treatment of anemia are sometimes challenging, clinicians must do their utmost to rigorously investigate…
Research has shown that anticonvulsants are teratogens and pose a risk for fetal malformations. Meadow was the first to note a possible link between congenital abnormalities and maternal use of anticonvulsive drug in 1968.1 In 1974, Barr et al noted hypoplasia and irregular ossification of the digital distal phalanges with nail dystrophy in children born to…
(Reuters Health)—About three in five older men with tiny spinal fractures related to osteoporosis reported new or worsening back pain in a new study. Only about one-quarter of new vertebral fractures are diagnosed by a doctor, the study team writes in their September 7 online report in Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, though the…
Opana ER Pulled from U.S. Market Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked Endo Pharmaceuticals to remove oxymorphone hydrochloride extended release (Opana ER) from the U.S. market due to public health consequences related to abuse. The agency has concerns that the risks presented by the treatment do not outweigh its benefits.1 On…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The investigational drug romosozumab led to gains in hip bone mineral density (BMD) that were not seen with teriparatide in older women with osteoporosis transitioning from bisphosphonate therapy in the STRUCTURE study. Amgen’s romosozumab is a monoclonal antibody that inhibits sclerosin, a negative regulator of bone formation. In addition to stimulating bone…
CHICAGO—Delia Chiaramonte, MD, associate director of education at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, presented the newest thinking on pain to a gathering of rheumatologists at the ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium in April. She began by explaining that pain is more than nociception. Nociception stimulates nerves to…
In drug news, a generic 2% diclofenac sodium solution is now available, denosumab is promising to treat osteoporosis, and the FDA has approved sarilumab to treat adults with RA…
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare disease affecting about 49,000 U.S. adults, and it is strongly associated with high levels of morbidity and mortality.1 Of the few available antifibrotic therapies, none is targeted for SSc. However, reason for optimism exists for antifibrotic treatments in early development and clinical trials, says Jörg H.W. Distler, MD, Heisenberg Professor…
The FDA has approved infliximab-abda, a biosimilar for treating multiple rheumatic diseases, as well as abaloparatide for treating postmenopausal women with osteoporosis…