NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Certain rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients doing well on etanercept and methotrexate may be able to quit the latter agent if they have tolerability problems, according to an open-label Canadian study. In a Sept. 11 online paper in Rheumatology, Dr. Boulos Haraoui, of the University of Montreal, and colleagues noted that although combination…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Rheumatoid arthritis patients with depression and anxiety symptoms may have worse outcomes and poorer response to prednisolone, a secondary analysis of the CARDERA trial has found. “The strength of association between depression/anxiety and disease activity outcomes and treatment response warrants routine screening,” the study’s lead author Faith Matcham at King’s College London…
Despite new therapeutics, progress for RA patients has virtually stalled over the past 10 years. In this article, the authors discuss many options to advance to a cure and the evidence for them, including the combination of low-dose methotrexate and anti-TNF; targeting angiogenesis and tissue damage pathways directly; antigen-specific therapy; potential combination of TNF and IL17 blockade; and targeting inhibitory receptors and regulatory T cells.
Phase 2 clinical trials have begun to assess the safety of brentuximab vedotin for the treatment of SLE. Also, the FDA is reviewing an application for a once-daily tofacitinib citrate tablet to treat RA…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Having a family history of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) does not appear to influence the clinical presentation or treatment response of RA to standard medications, researchers from Sweden report. “At first we were a bit surprised by our findings,” Dr. Thomas Frisell from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm told Reuters Health by email. “Patients…
After completing a 10-year clinical trial examining treatment strategies for rheumatoid arthritis, Dutch researchers used a questionnaire to determine the study conditions and individual motivators that kept 60% of patients participating long term…
It seems to have begun in Norway, the international pressure to switch patients from well-known brand biologic agents, such as Remicade (infliximab), to biosimilar agents, due to a significant cost advantage.1 This biosimilar came with a 39% price markdown last year compared with the brand, and when Norway called for bids, the discount went to…
RA is a chronic disease that people must learn to live with for their lifetime. Occupational therapists (OTs) play a pivotal role in assisting patients with RA with functioning in the face of a disease that causes limitations and deformities.