Barnabe C et al. J Rheumatol 2018. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.170779

Burn E et al. BMJ Open 2018; 8: e0209977. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020977

The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of belimumab compared with standard treatment ranged between £8480 and £68,909 with different model assumptions.

Nguyen and co-authors conclude: “Future studies are needed to investigate the potential mechanism of the effects observed in this trial, to replicate our findings, and to assess the effects of repeated injections over time and their clinical effectiveness, including an analysis of cost-effectiveness.”

Conaghan also talked about the impact of immunomodulatory therapy on infection risk and COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, and noted that rheumatology healthcare professionals (HCPs) are “going to have to deal with vaccines in our immunosuppressed patients” in the long term, as the pandemic continues.

Riches et al conclude: “Future studies are needed to establish the cost-effectiveness of such models, and to evaluate clinical outcomes stratified by the urate levels reached.” medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Ltd. © 2022 Springer Healthcare Ltd, part of the Springer Nature Group Lancet Rheumatol 2022; doi:10.1016/S2665-9913(22)00062-5

Evidence for rates of progression from moderate to severe RA and subsequent treatment sequences was not readily available but remains crucial for the modelling of cost-effectiveness of biological DMARDs for the treatment of moderate RA.

He recommends that “[c]ost-effectiveness analyses are needed to determine the value of combining voclosporin with standard regimens as induction or rescue therapy for lupus nephritis.”

Click here for individual study details Will COVID-19 vaccines work in people with RMDs and how can effectiveness be measured?  

“One mechanism that may limit its effectiveness is the increase in BAFF levels after B-cell depletion,” which has been linked to increased disease flares, they say.

And then how that translates to the rest of the world will be done, as you know, on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis and in some of those places efficacy and safety are the only considerations any others like the UK and here in Australia cost benefit, cost effectiveness are also key factors in access to care so we'll have to wait and see how that plays out in terms of how that helps us with future trial endpoints-- i don't think it helps or hinders-- what i hope will help is a lot of analysis of those trial endpoints and hopefully a lot of academic publications with a lot of transparency about exactly what happened in those endpoints so that the field can learn from it I don't think the approval teaches us that much although Ii'd have to say now that the FDA has approved two biologics for lupus it feels to me as though the approval pathway is that little bit more solid for future agents and so we're hopeful that that's the case.

As to whether patients considering or taking febuxostat should undergo additional CV monitoring, Singh thinks “the jury is still out” and notes that the cost-effectiveness of such an approach would need to be investigated. medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Ltd. © 2021 Springer Healthcare Ltd, part of the Springer Nature Group

Real-world data confirm the effectiveness of tocilizumab for decreasing relapse risk and allowing corticosteroid reduction in heavily treated patients with giant cell arteritis.

Moreover, he commented that cost is an important consideration.

The results of a systematic review and meta-analysis do not support the effectiveness of most therapies for reducing pain and improving quality of life in people with fibromyalgia.

TDM, an individualized treatment strategy based on regular assessment of serum drug levels, “has been proposed as an approach to optimize efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of anti-TNF therapy,” she added.

Gareth Jones (University of Aberdeen, UK) and colleagues say their findings have “important implications for the generalisability of trial results, and the cost-effectiveness of TNF [inhibitor] agents.”

Partial knee replacement is more cost-effective than total knee replacement over 5 years for patients with late-stage isolated medial compartment osteoarthritis of the knee, show results of the TOPKAT trial published in The Lancet .