The Role of the Clinical Lab in Immunogenicity Testing for anti-TNF
The use ofanti-TNF biologicals in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has been a major therapeutic advance. A recent article about testing for drug immunogenicity in these patients by a national reference lab,ARUP, was intriguing (see:Dancing Through the Pain: Advancements in Immunogenicity Testing Deliver Relief to Patients with Autoimmune Diseases). Below is an excerpt from it:To manage the overproduction of TNF seen in rheumatoid arthritis, patients are prescribed TNF blockers, medications that suppress the response to TNF and decrease inflammation. What happens is the body starts seeing the medicati...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 16, 2016 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Lab Processes and Procedures Laboratory Industry Trends Medical Consumerism Medical Research Pharmaceutical Industry Source Type: blogs
Adalimumab in Patients with Active Non-Infectious Uveitis via...
Adalimumab in Patients with Active Non-Infectious Uveitis via Now@NEJMPosted oninfosnack. (Source: Kidney Notes)
Source: Kidney Notes - September 7, 2016 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, June 13th 2016
FIGHT AGING! NEWSLETTER
June 13th 2016
Fight Aging! provides a weekly digest of news and commentary for thousands of subscribers interested in the latest longevity science: progress towards the medical control of aging in order to prevent age-related frailty, suffering, and disease, as well as improvements in the present understanding of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to extending healthy life. Expect to see summaries of recent advances in medical research, news from the scientific community, advocacy and fundraising initiatives to help speed work on the repair and reversal of aging, links to ...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 12, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Immune System Destruction and Recreation Can Cure Multiple Sclerosis
The latest update for ongoing efforts to test destruction and recreation of the immune system in patients suffering from the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis demonstrate that this approach is effectively a cure if the initial destruction of immune cells is comprehensive enough. Researchers have been able to suppress or kill much of the immune system and then repopulate it with new cells for about as long as the modern stem cell therapy industry has been underway, something like fifteen years or so. Methodologies have improved, but the destructive side of this process remains unpleasant and risky, something you wouldn'...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 9, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Lynn’s facial redness gone in 3 days on the Wheat Belly Detox!
Lynn shared her “before” and “during” photos, just 3 days into her Wheat Belly 10-Day Detox experience.
“This is how much my skin redness has calmed since starting my Wheat Belly Detox 3 days ago. I was always getting asked if my blood pressure was up. I have always had great blood pressure, so that was never the issue. However, I never understood why my face would get red like this. Then I noticed it was especially after I ate.
“The ‘before’ pic was taken during Christmas time, therefore the redness isn’t from sun but from the wheat and grains. Also both pics are witho...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - April 8, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle facial change gluten grains Inflammation redness skin Source Type: blogs
Do you know about behcet ’s syndrome?
I was reading some medical records the other day and came upon a condition known as Behcet’s syndrome. It is actually a rare disease, but more frequent and severe in patients from the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia. Inherited (genetic) and environmental factors, such as microbe infections, are suspected to be factors that contribute to the development of Behcet’s. The syndrome is not proven to be contagious. The symptoms of Behcet’s syndrome depend on the area of the body affected. Behcet’s syndrome can involve inflammation of many areas of the body. These areas include the arteries that supply blood to the body’...
Source: Nursing Comments - January 24, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Stephanie Jewett, RN Tags: Advice/Education Caregiving General Public Nursing/Nursing Students Patients/Specific Diseases Behcet's disease Behcet's syndrome cortisone genital ulcers inflammation mouth ucerations skin test Source Type: blogs
Do you know about behcet’s syndrome?
I was reading some medical records the other day and came upon a condition known as Behcet’s syndrome. It is actually a rare disease, but more frequent and severe in patients from the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia. Inherited (genetic) and environmental factors, such as microbe infections, are suspected to be factors that contribute to the development of Behcet’s. The syndrome is not proven to be contagious. The symptoms of Behcet’s syndrome depend on the area of the body affected. Behcet’s syndrome can involve inflammation of many areas of the body. These areas include the arteries that supply blood to the body’...
Source: Nursing Comments - January 24, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Stephanie Jewett, RN Tags: Advice/Education Caregiving General Public Nursing/Nursing Students Patients/Specific Diseases Behcet's disease Behcet's syndrome cortisone genital ulcers inflammation mouth ucerations skin test Source Type: blogs
New Treatments For FSGS -ASN Conference
Idiopathic focal and segmental glomerular sclerosis or FSGS is one of the most common causes of non diabetic kidney disease in the world and also one of the least satisfying to treat due to the difficulty with initiating and maintaining a durable remission. For decades the standard of treatment has been steroid therapy in high doses given either daily or every other day. This results in significant toxicity which includes the development of diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, personality changes, weight gain, easy bruising etc. Yet these negative effects of steroid therapy are outweighed significantly by the result of not tre...
Source: All Kidney News - September 29, 2015 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: jadhavbca Tags: Kidney News FSGS TNF Source Type: blogs
New Treatments For FSGS -ASN Conference
Idiopathic focal and segmental glomerular sclerosis or FSGS is one of the most common causes of non diabetic kidney disease in the world and also one of the least satisfying to treat due to the difficulty with initiating and maintaining a durable remission. For decades the standard of treatment has been steroid therapy in high doses given either daily or every other day. This results in significant toxicity which includes the development of diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, personality changes, weight gain, easy bruising etc. Yet these negative effects of steroid therapy are outweighed significantly by the result of not tre...
Source: All Kidney News - September 29, 2015 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: jadhavbca Tags: Kidney News FSGS TNF Source Type: blogs
Autoimmunity: Drug Abuse
The Wheat Belly lifestyle that begins with elimination of the worst and most dominant of all grains in the diet, semidwarf wheat products, followed by elimination of its closely-related brethren in other grains, is a powerful start in reversing the 200-some diseases of autoimmunity.
We now know that the gliadin protein of wheat and related proteins in other grains initiate the increased intestinal permeability that begins the process, as highly inflammatory compounds, such as lipopolysaccharide from bacterial cell walls, are permitted entry into the body. We also know that gliadin itself gains entry into the bloodstream a...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - July 14, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle autoimmunity gluten grains Inflammation Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, February 5, 2015
From MedPage Today:
Don’t Demonize Processed Food. I’m not sure anything garners more discussion in the nutrition world these days than the term “processed food.”
Heritability of RA Remains Unexplained. Most of the familial aggregation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can’t be explained by currently established genetic or environmental risk factors.
Adalimumab Biosimilar Succeeds in RA. A biosimilar to adalimumab (Humira) met its primary endpoint of clinical equivalence in a phase III study evaluating its efficacy for rheumatoid arthritis.
Health IT Chief Is Getting Back to Basics. When it comes...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 5, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Obesity Rheumatology Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, January 15, 2015
From MedPage Today:
CDC: Most Nosocomial Infections Fall. Rates of most major types of healthcare-associated infections have declined markedly in recent years.
RA Patients More Likely to Abandon Remicade. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients were more likely to discontinue infliximab (Remicade) than adalimumab (Humira) and etanercept (Enbrel) in the first year of biologic treatment, and were more likely to stop adalimumab than etanercept.
Vyvanse Effective Option for Treating Binge Eating. Adults with binge eating disorder treated with lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (Vyvanse) saw improvements in binge eating behavior and its ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 15, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Infectious disease Psychiatry Rheumatology Source Type: blogs
Biosimilars Update: FDA Staff Recommends Approval of First Biosimilar in U.S.; Agency Accepts Third Biosimilar Application For Review
FDA’s “Purple Book,” which lists all licensed biological products, currently has an empty column under the “biosimilar” heading, which would state imitation products deemed “highly similar” next to the listed reference. That may change soon. Tomorrow, the FDA will consider whether the Agency should approve Novartis AG's copy of Neupogen, Amgen Inc.'s successful injectable biologic used to prevent infection in patients on chemo therapy. FDA staff reviewers recommended approval for the copy on all five of its proposed indications yesterday.
View the FDA Briefing Document in advance of the Oncologic Drugs...
Source: Policy and Medicine - January 6, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
How do you say "biosimilar quality" in Hindi?
At the same time that regulators in France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg are suspending the marketing approval of 25 generic drugs due to concerns over the quality of data from clinical trials conducted by India's GVK Biosciences, another Indian firm, Zydus Cadila, has launched a biosimilar of Adalimumab (an anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibody, which is approved in many countries for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, plaque psoriasis, polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.) Bad timing and, perhaps...
Source: drugwonks.com Blog - December 10, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: blogs
RICO: Offering Co-Pay Coupons Does Not Constitute A Racketeering “Enterprise,” Rules Federal Court
Pharmaceutical manufacturer co-payment coupons have come under a lot of scrutiny recently. HHS-OIG recently warned these coupons may violate the anti-kickback statute if they encourage the purchase of Medicare Part D drugs. Manufacturers seem to be safe, however, from co-pay challenges under RICO—the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act which was originally enacted to combat organized crime. Last week, a Federal Court judge dismissed an insurance company’s claim that they overpaid for drugs in which Abbott Laboratories and Abbvie allegedly committed mail and wire fraud by offering co-pay cou...
Source: Policy and Medicine - October 14, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
