Medications

The IL-6 receptor inhibitor tocilizumab may significantly reduce disease activity and the amount of prednisone needed in people with glucocorticoid-dependent active polymyalgia rheumatica, suggest results from a phase 3 trial published in JAMA.

Sequential treatment with rituximab followed by mepolizumab may be a promising strategy to treat the systemic and respiratory manifestations of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, suggest findings from an observational study.

Phase 3 SAPHYR study findings suggest that the IL-6 receptor inhibitor sarilumab with glucocorticoid taper is an efficacious treatment option for patients with steroid-resistant polymyalgia rheumatica.

Findings from a phase 2b trial suggest that treatment with the anti-CD52 antibody alemtuzumab may be beneficial for some patients with primary systemic vasculitis and an inadequate response to conventional therapies.

Adding infliximab to standard therapy with high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin plus high-dose aspirin may decrease fever duration and prevent coronary artery lesions in children with Kawasaki disease, study findings indicate.

Findings from a proof-of-concept trial provide preliminary evidence to suggest that the JAK inhibitor baricitinib is well tolerated and may have efficacy for the treatment of relapsing giant cell arteritis.

Findings from the VITAL trial suggest that vitamin D supplementation, with or without omega-3 fatty acids, may warrant further investigation as a strategy to reduce the risk for autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and polymyalgia rheumatica.

A third dose of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine gives rise to a neutralizing antibody response in the majority of people with ANCA-associated vasculitis, but those treated with rituximab are unlikely to respond, researchers report.

Cumulative prednisone dose and effective disease control are both associated with increased BMI among patients with giant cell arteritis, post-hoc analysis of the GiACTA trial suggests.

Click through for details on this announcement

Findings from the phase 2 TitAIN trial support further investigation of the IL-17A inhibitor secukinumab for the treatment of giant cell arteritis.

Researchers have developed a calculator that could help clinicians predict the probability of a seropositive immunogenic response to mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIIRDs) receiving rituximab.

Tocilizumab improves glucocorticoid-free remission rates, time to first relapse, and cumulative glucocorticoid dose versus placebo in people with polymyalgia rheumatica, show phase 2/3 study data presented at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting.

The majority of patients with giant cell arteritis generate an antibody response following both doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, researchers report in a letter to Rheumatology.

Click through for more information on this approval

Findings from the proof-of-concept BRIDGE-PMR study suggest that rituximab may be beneficial for  the treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica.

Click through for more details on this announcement