Rheumatology Medication Roundup: FDA Approval, CV Risks, bDMARD Comparison

Ustekinumab (STELARA) was not associated with increased atrial fibrillation or major adverse cardiovascular events in a group of patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis.

However, romosozumab-aqqg (Evenity) has been granted Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at high risk for fracture, but with a strong cardiovascular (CV) risk warning.

Speaking of medication, anti-inflammatory treatments used for arthritis patients could also be effective in treating depression. (ICYMI: the anxiety/depression–arthritis correlation was established in a previous Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.)

Meanwhile, a new study has debunked previous research pertaining to adverse events related to abatacept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Researchers evaluated retention rates for seven biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in RA patients: tocilizumab, etanercept, infliximab, abatacept, adalimumab, golimumab, and certolizumab pegol.

Certolizumab pegol does not appear to lose its efficacy in treating RA patients regardless of cigarette-smoking history.

A recent study assessed associations between three genetic RA markers and radiographic responses to adalimumab plus methotrexate versus methotrexate alone.