Jun 9th, 2021 - To develop updated guidelines for the pharmacologic management of rheumatoid arthritis. We developed clinically relevant population, intervention, comparator, and outcomes (PICO) questions. After conducting a systematic literature review, the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach was used to rate the certainty of evidence. A voting panel comprising c...

Dec 30th, 2022 - Fluconazole tablets are indicated for the treatment of: Vaginal candidiasis (vaginal yeast infections due to Candida). Oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis. In open noncomparative studies of relatively small numbers of patients, fluconazole tablets were also effective for the treatment of Candida urinary tract infections, peritonitis, and systemic Candida infections including candidemia, di...

Aug 23rd, 2019 - To update evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (SpA). We conducted updated systematic literature reviews for 20 clinical questions on pharmacologic treatment addressed in the 2015 guidelines, and for 26 new questions on pharmacologic treatment, treat-to-target strategy, and use of imaging. New q...

Dec 1st, 2022 - CORTROSYN® (cosyntropin) for Injection is intended for use as a diagnostic agent in the screening of patients presumed to have adrenocortical insufficiency. Because of its rapid effect on the adrenal cortex it may be utilized to perform a 30-minute test of adrenal function (plasma cortisol response) as an office or outpatient procedure, using only 2 venipunctures (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION ...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies have revolutionized the treatment of cancer and can be curative. CD19-targeted CAR-T cells hold promise for the treatment of refractory autoimmune diseases, but therapies that indiscriminately deplete all B cells are limited by infection risk. In contrast, precision immunotherapies that selectively eliminate autoreactive B cel...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) led to impressive survival benefits in treatment of cancers. However, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) can cause treatment discontinuation and sometimes fatalities, more often seen with combination ICIs. Through nanostring gene expression profiling of colitis-irAE, normal colon, and tumor biopsies, we found that the interleukin-6 (IL-...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is the backbone of SLE therapy, due to its benefits on increasing survival and decreasing lupus flares. In 2011, ophthalmology guidelines recommended limiting HCQ dosing to ≤6.5mg/kg of ideal body weight to reduce the risk of retinopathy; in 2016 updated guidelines recommended using ≤5mg/kg of actual body weight. For many patients, these guidelines r...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Anifrolumab is a fully human IgG1 κ monoclonal antibody that binds to the type I IFN receptor and inhibits type I IFN signaling.1 In the phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled TULIP-1 (NCT02446912)2 and TULIP-2 (NCT02446899)3 trials, demonstration of a favorable benefit–risk profile led to approval of anifrolumab in several countries for patients with moderate...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Approximately 40% of adult patients with SLE develop LN, which can lead to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD).1 Renal response is used in clinical trials as a measure of treatment efficacy in patients with LN; however, there are various definitions of renal response and limited evidence to support whether it accurately predicts long-term renal outcomes. A study using data from ...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by various autoantibodies. In particular, targeting autoreactive B cells could be a promising therapy with minimal adverse effects and dependence on corticosteroids. Some phenotypically distinct B cell populations including IgD-, CD27-, CD11c+, and CXCR5lo double negative 2 (DN2) B cells, are expanded ...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Medication cost concerns are associated with nonadherence and poor outcomes in the general population. Prior research has described medication cost concerns in up to one-fifth of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but little is known about the relationship between these concerns and relevant health outcomes. In a multiethnic cohort of patients with SLE, we ass...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Metformin (dimethyl biguanide, Met) is a widely used, first-line antidiabetic drug with AMPK-dependent anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. In vitro studies and human trials in SLE and multiple sclerosis have shown that Met associates with reduced Th17 cells, IL-17, IL-1b, IL-6, IFN-g, and TNF-a, while restoring or increasing regulatory T-cells (Treg). Sjögren’s D...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have identified fatigue and pain as important features relevant to their burden of disease.1 Bimekizumab (BKZ), a monoclonal IgG1 antibody that selectively inhibits IL-17F in addition to IL-17A, has demonstrated improvements in patient-reported symptoms up to 3 years in a phase 2b study.2 This analysis aimed to assess the impact of BKZ...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Patients (pts) with PsA experience lower quality of life than both the general population and pts with psoriasis alone1,2. Recent PsA treatment recommendations highlight the importance of maximizing long‐term (LT) health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) and social participation as primary goals of therapy3. We aimed to determine whether early clinical improvement with guselku...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: The IL-23p19-subunit inhibitor guselkumab (GUS) demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in fatigue through one year of treatment1 independent of its effects on ACR20 and MDA achievement2. In this post hoc analysis, the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy – Fatigue (FACIT-F) scale was used to: (a) evaluate the long-term effect of GUS in maintaining improv...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Guselkumab (GUS) is associated with robust and sustained improvement in PsA signs and symptoms in subgroups of patients (pts) pooled from the phase 3 DISCOVER-1 and DISCOVER-2 (D2) trials, across a variety of baseline (BL) pt characteristics through 11, and 2 years (D2 only)2. In this post-hoc analysis using D2 data, we evaluated the efficacy of GUS in inducing long-term (W1...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: We aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of an intensified B-cell depletion induction therapy (IBCDT) without immunosuppressive maintenance regimen compared with standard of care in biopsy-proven Lupus Nephritis (LN). Methods: Thirty patients were administered an IBCDT (4 weekly rituximab [RTX] 375 mg/m2 and 2 more doses after 1 and 2 months; 2 infusions of 10 mg/kg c...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: While long-term follow-up (FU) is needed to unmask poor outcome in lupus nephritis (LN), most clinical trials evaluate outcome measures at short-term. Early endpoints predictive of long-term outcome in LN are therefore most welcome to compare efficacy of pharmacological interventions. A multicentric study, using a large database of prospectively followed LN patients, succeed...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: B cell targeting agents (BCA), including belimumab (BEL) and rituximab (RTX), have been used with success in lupus nephritis (LN) patients, though identifying patients at highest risk for flare after receipt of these agents has not been well studied. We hypothesized that sustained low peripheral B cell counts (BCC) after successful control of LN would be associated with fewe...

Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Background: Early complete remission (within 12 months from diagnosis) is considered an important protective factor against development of advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) in lupus nephritis (LN). However, a certain proportion of such patients still develop advanced CKD and, eventually, end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Objective: To describe the factors associated with t...