Autoimmune diseases are diseases of “mistaken identity”, where the immune system – which is supposed to protect us against infectious diseases and neoplasias – mistakenly attacks and destroys components of our own body.
In diseases characterized by bone loss -such as periodontitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis- there is a lot that scientists still don’t understand. What is the role of the immune response in the process? What happens to the regulatory mechanisms that protect bone?
A clinical trial involving COVID-19 patients hospitalized at UT Health San Antonio and University Health, among roughly 100 sites globally, found that a combination of the drugs baricitinib and remdesivir reduced time to recovery, according to results published Dec. 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Diplomat Pharmacy has begun filling prescriptions for Kevzara (sarilumab) for patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The announcement comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving the therapy in May. The agency authorized Kevzara for adults with RA who failed to responded to, or were unable to tolerate, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) such as methotrexate […]
Active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients whose response to methotrexate (MTX) therapy was insufficient showed improvement when MTX was combined with filgotinib, an investigational JAK–1 inhibitor, according to results of a Phase 2b clinical trial. The study titled, “Filgotinib (GLPG0634/GS-6034), an oral JAK1 selective inhibitor, is effective in combination with methotrexate (MTX) in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis […]
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted a marketing authorization application from generic pharmaceuticals developer Sandoz for the review of biosimilars for AbbVie’s Humira (adalimumab) and Janssen’s Remicade (infliximab), used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Remicade is widely used for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) therapy. Biosimilars are biopharmaceutical drugs that have similar properties to other licensed therapies. Sandoz announced the […]
Results of a recent study showed that biological therapy regimens, such as Enbrel (etanercept), Humira (adalimumab), Remicade (infliximab), Simponi (golimumab), or Cimzia (certolizumab), are less cost-effective compared to DMARD combination in triple therapy with Azulfidine (sulfasalazine), Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine), and Trexall (methotrexate) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Importantly, this triple therapy also was found to be […]
Kevzara (sarilumab) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have not responded to or are intolerant to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) such as methotrexate (MTX). The wholesale price of the new treatment is about 30 percent less […]
Group-based quality improvement sessions, based on the recommended “treat to target” (TTT) approach, can help rheumatologists improve the quality of their care for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, a recent study suggests. Results of the study, “Implementation of Treat to Target in Rheumatoid Arthritis through a Learning Collaborative: Results of the TRACTION Randomized Controlled Trial,” were […]
A potential treatment for moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis, sirukumab, is under consideration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval, with the application supported by results from five Phase 3 clinical trials. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) one of the companies developing sirukumab — through its subsidiary Janssen, working with GlaxoSmithKline — said in a recent business review statement that it anticipates approval […]