Latest Connective tissue diseases Stories

Results of a separate study demonstrate that early and sustained remission are associated with decrease mortality According to a study presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are prescribed biologic treatments have a significantly lower mortality risk (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 0.61) than those just treated with traditional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The study also...

For every additional 6 months of treatment CV risk reduces further Results from a retrospective analysis of contemporary data presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, predict, based on estimates from a multivariate regression model, that the cumulative use of anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs (anti-TNFs) for one, two, or three years is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular events by 24%, 42% and 56% in patients with rheumatoid...

BERLIN and BRUSSELS, June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Results from the RAPID(TM)-PsA study presented this week at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Germany showed that certolizumab pegol compared to placebo improved the signs and symptoms of arthritis in adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA). "Certolizumab pegol has been shown to be clinically effective in moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. The RAPID(TM)-PsA...

Special echocardiograms show promise for early detection of a potentially deadly complication in rheumatoid arthritis: heart disease, Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings were being presented at The European League Against Rheumatism annual meeting in Berlin. Rheumatoid arthritis patients are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and it is important to take steps to intervene, but the risk assessment tools physicians commonly use often underestimate the danger. Myocardial strain...

BERLIN, June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced results from two long-term, open-label studies, which evaluated the results of HUMIRA® (adalimumab) treatment for up to 10 years in patients with long-standing, moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). These 10-year HUMIRA studies, DE019 and DE020, are among the longest, open-label trials in RA. Results presented at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) 2012 Congress in Berlin, Germany, include...

BERLIN, June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced results from the open-label extension of the Phase 3 ABILITY-1 investigational study of HUMIRA® (adalimumab), which assessed the improvement in signs and symptoms of disease for patients with active axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) who have no X-ray evidence of structural damage. Results were presented at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) 2012 Congress in Berlin, Germany. ABILITY-1 is the first...

BERLIN, June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Phase 3 study findings presented today showed that patients with active moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who received an investigational intravenous (I.V.) formulation of the anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha therapy SIMPONI(®) (golimumab) [hereafter referred to as SIMPONI I.V.] demonstrated significant improvements in signs and symptoms and disease activity. Investigators reported nearly 60 percent of patients receiving...

Education is key to success; functional disability negatively impacts job performance As children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) grow into adulthood, disability due to disease may adversely affect their ability to achieve educational success. Findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), suggest that functional disability impacts educational attainment, which is key to successful employment in adulthood. Arthritis is...

BRUSSELS, June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UCB, a leading biopharmaceutical company, is sponsoring several data presentations for its immunology portfolio at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Berlin, Germany, June 6-9, 2012. "We are pleased to show our continued commitment to improving the lives of those living with autoimmune diseases," said Professor Dr. Iris Loew-Friedrich, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice...

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified an agent that in lab tests protected the skin and lungs from fibrosis, a process that can ultimately end in organ failure and even death because the damaged tissue becomes scarred and can no longer function properly. The findings were published today in Science Translational Medicine. There are no effective therapies for life-threatening illnesses such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and systemic sclerosis,...