medwireNews: EULAR has issued recommendations for the management of Sjögren’s syndrome with topical and systemic treatments.
The evidence- and consensus-based guidelines were developed by a taskforce of 77 specialists in various disciplines from 30 different countries, led by Manuel Ramos-Casals (Institut Clinic de Medicina i Dermatologia, Barcelona, Spain).
The authors believe that their guidelines, which are published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, “form a logical sequence,” starting with the management of dryness, fatigue, and pain, followed by systemic disease. The recommendations address topical oral and ocular therapies, as well as oral muscarinic agonists, hydroxychloroquine, glucocorticoids, immunosuppressive agents, and biologics.
The experts note that only nine randomized controlled trials contributed the evidence supporting their guidelines. They say that this, combined “with the absence of any efficacious agent,” reveals Sjögren’s syndrome “as a true orphan disease from a therapeutic point of view.”
And they hope that “[n]ew research information on treatment strategies, predictive markers and other aspects will soon become available.”
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2019 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group