This week in the DocWire News rheumatology section, I interviewed Robert Keenan, MD, an adjunct associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, and lead investigator on “The effect of immunomodulators on the efficacy and tolerability of pegloticase: a systematic review,” to discuss the study’s findings.
“I think that this publication emphasizes that gout is not just a disease of intermittent flares, and it’s important to recognize that these patients are kind of in a situation where the disease state has kind of gotten out of hand and it needs to be treated aggressively, and that it’s important to treat these patients to target,” Dr. Keenan said during our interview.
In COVID-19 news, a study confirmed previous findings that determined a correlation between rituximab and increased risk for severe COVID-19. “In particular, rituximab will have to be prescribed with particular caution in patients with inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, especially if they have other comorbidities that render them particularly at risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes,” the researchers wrote in their conclusion. The study appeared in The Lancet Rheumatology.
Finally, researchers compared upadacitinib versus adalimumab and placebo in psoriatic arthritis. A low and high dose of upadacitinib were both superior to placebo, but only the higher dose outperformed adalimumab, the researchers discovered. “The 30-mg dose but not the 15-mg dose was superior to adalimumab,” they stated. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In case you missed it:
Dr. Keenan Talks About Pegloticase in Uncontrolled Gout
Rituximab Increases Risk of Severe COVID-19 in Patients with Rheumatic Disease
Upadacitinib versus Adalimumab: How Do These Arthritis Drugs Compare?
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