Biosimilar medicines in rheumatology The long-term safety of biosimilar medicines is unknown, but while their use in rheumatology practice is supported, switching patients currently responding and tolerating the reference product is not.…
Department of Health reports 5.2% growth in spending on branded drugs NHS spending on branded drugs made available under the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme between 2013 and 2014 went up by 5.2%, according to a new analysis.…
Sir Gordon Hobday (1916–2015) Research chemist Sir Gordon Hobday was instrumental in the development of the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen and had a long career at Boots before becoming chairman.…
Response to hepatitis B vaccination impaired in rheumatoid arthritis patients Most rheumatoid arthritis patients taking immune-suppressant drugs do not have an adequate response to hepatitis B vaccination.…
Biological agents can reduce work absenteeism in patients with rheumatic disease Patients with rheumatic disease who are treated with biological drugs miss fewer days of work and are more productive than patients treated with non-biological agents, reveals a meta-analysis. …
Injection of modified cells reduces inflammation in arthritis sufferers A single injection of a patient’s own modified dendritic cells appears to be safe and to have anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory effects in rheumatoid arthritis.…
Rheumatoid arthritis patients should be offered intensive treatment when first diagnosed Evidence to support intensive treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs when patients are first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis has been presented at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology.…
Cracking your knuckles will do you no harmScientists have used an MRI scanner to observe what happens when you crack your knuckles — a process that does not seem to cause ill health effects.…
Rheumatologists want to see system in place to track efficacy and safety of biosimilar products The British Society of Rheumatology (BSR) wants patients to register with its evidence database to track the efficacy and long-term safety of new biosimilar products.…
Infliximab biosimilars to launch in the UK as innovator product reaches patent expiryNapp Pharmaceuticals and Hospira will both launch biosimilars of Janssen Biologic’s Remicade in the UK after its patent expires on 24 February 2015.…
