Military Personnel At Increased Risk for Osteoarthritis.
Military Personnel At Increased Risk for Osteoarthritis.
May 4th, 2012Krystexxa – New Medicine For Gout.
May 3rd, 2012
FDA Approves Krystexxa For Hard-To-Treat Cases Of Serious Gout.
Andrew Pollack of the New York Times reported that the FDA approved “a new drug to treat serious cases of gout.” Krystexxa was developed by Savient Pharmaceuticals and “worked for about 40 percent of patients” in clinical trials. The FDA’s approval “comes with limits” and “is approved only for those who are not helped by existing drugs, the most widely used of which is allopurinol,” and physicians will be told to use a corticosteroid and antihistamine prior to administering Krystexxa to stop potentially severe allergic reactions. Krystexxa, or pegloticase, “is an enzyme that acts directly on uric acid, converting it into harmless chemicals that are excreted in the urine.” Without doubt, this therapy will come with a hefty price tag that insurers will balk at.
RA Increased Risk Of Atrial Fibrillation
May 2nd, 2012
How Painful Is Gout?
May 1st, 2012
How Painful is Gout?
Hi… this is Dr. Nathan Wei and today I’m going to be talking about gout. Gout is a disease caused by high uric acid levels in the body. It affects mostly men but also women after menopause. While it can be controlled with both medicines and lifestyle changes, attacks can be excruciating. In an article written by Bill Hendrick for WebMD, he quotes the 2010 Gout Attitudes Patient Survey. The study, conducted by Braun Research, asked 1,000 patients with gout to describe the level of discomfort and emotional toll gout causes. 2/3 of the 5 million Americans suffering from gout say the disease isn’t taken seriously. The condition is so painful that 37% of people with the disease would trade a winning lottery ticket for a guarantee they wouldn’t have another attack. About 25% of gout patients say people without gout think they are overreacting 23% of patients compare the pain of a gout attack to shattered glass piercing their skin and 28% to breaking a bone 27% of gout patients say the disease causes them to take to their beds and take time off from work.
Supplements Fail To Help OA
April 30th, 2012
Supplements Fail To Relieve Joint Pain In Patients With Knee Or Hip Osteoarthritis.
The Associated Press reports, “Two popular supplements used to treat joint pain don’t work and health authorities should stop paying for them,” assert the authors of a new paper appearing in the British Medical Journal. After reviewing 10 trials, the researchers realized that they “failed to demonstrate a clinically significant benefit for patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis,” John Gever in Medpage Today reported. ”The more objective measurement of joint space narrowing also was not significantly improved with glucosamine or chondroitin,” the authors explained.
“Moreover, when benefits were found, they tended to be in industry-funded trials as opposed to those without commercial sponsorship.” Nevertheless, “the supplements are safe, the study researchers write,” (9/16, Martin) reported. DeniseMann in WebMD reports,
Jason Theodosakis, MD, of the University of Arizona, said, “You have to ask yourself, would you take a supplement containing glucosamine and chondroitin, have about two-thirds of a chance of getting significant relief, with some evidence that you can slow your disease progression, or just numb your symptoms with acetaminophen or anti-inflammatory drugs and risk ulcers, allergies, kidney or liver damage, hypertension, heart attacks and possibly death.” He added, “The risk/benefit for glucosamine and chondroitin far outweighs that of the FDA-approved drugs for osteoarthritis.” I have to agree with Dr. Thodosakis. My wife and I both take these supplements. If it is placebo effect, I don’t care. All I know is I feel better when I take them and hurt when I don’t.
Popular Antibiotic Doesn’t Work For OA.
April 27th, 2012
Optimism Reduces Stroke Risk
April 26th, 2012
Novel RA Drug Shows Promise
April 25th, 2012
Novel Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Shows Early Promise
Madonna Behna in HealthDay reported on a study of a new targeted medication for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The oral medication, fostamatinib or R788, is a spleen tyrosine kinase or (Syk) inhibitor. It works to block specific pathways responsible for joint inflammation.It is similar to the breakthrough cancer drug Gleevec, which inhibits the growth of malignant cells. “Our findings highlights the fact that there are other pathways that can be utilized in order to improve disease activity among people with rheumatoid arthritis,” said Dr. Michael E. Weinblatt, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In the clinical trial, patients with RA who took fostamatinib along with methotrexate were twice as likely as those taking methotrexate and a placebo to have a clinically significant improvement in their disease after six months of treatment. And, one third of the patients taking methotrexate and fostamatinib showed measurable benefits after just one week of therapy.
The most common side effects were diarrhea, which occurred in roughly 20 percent of those taking the active drug, and an increase in blood pressure, and a drop in white blood cell count. I think this drug and other oral drugs called JAK kinase inhibitors will certainly be helpful for patients with RA.
Taller Women At Increased Cancer Risk
April 24th, 2012
Super-Expensive Gout Drug.
April 23rd, 2012
