News

Obese patients with axial spondyloarthritis are less likely to respond to treatment with TNF blockers than patients at a healthy weight, according to a study suggesting that weight loss could improve treatment outcomes. Heavier patients who received Remicade (infliximab) — whose doses are based on weight — did not have…

Patients with chronic inflammatory disorders, including ankylosing spondylitis, are at a higher risk of experiencing multiple cardiometabolic events than matching controls with no inflammatory disease. The risk was almost three times higher for those treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) compared with those without an inflammatory disease, leading researchers to urge…

The European Commission recently granted a marketing authorization for Imraldi, a biosimilar approved to treat the same inflammatory diseases — including ankylosing spondylitis — as  Humira (adalimumab). Imraldi, developed by Samsung Bioepis — a partnership between Samsung BioLogics and Biogen — is…

Health Canada has approved Sandoz’s Erelzi, a biosimilar therapy of etanercept, for the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis and two other conditions targeted by Amgen’s original therapy Enbrel. Canadian health authorities said that Erelzi has shown to be equally effective in treating ankylosing spondylitis,…

A large-scale survey is underway for patients with a definite diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis and who know their blood type. The survey will allow researchers to determine whether blood type may be linked to a higher risk of developing autoimmune diseases. Early this year, the Scleroderma Education project conducted a…

African-Americans are more likely to develop severe ankylosing spondylitis (AS), with greater loss of function and higher disease activity, than either white Americans or Latinos, a new study revealed. The study, “Ethnicity and disease severity in ankylosing spondylitis a cross-sectional analysis of three ethnic groups,” was led by researchers at…

Renflexis (infliximab-abda), a biosimilar of Remicade (infliximab), is now available in the United States for the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis and other conditions. The launch was recently announced by Samsung Bioepis as the company’s first biosimilar approved in the U.S. Renflexis was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in…

Cholesterol-lowering medications called statins may lower mortality rates in patients with ankylosing spondylitis more efficiently than in the general population, new research suggests. The study, “Survival benefit of statin use in ankylosing spondylitis: a general population-based cohort study,” was published in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (ARD).

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in Australia awarded five researchers at the University of Queensland for their work in several medical fields. One of the awardees, professor David Evans, PhD, received the NHMRC’s Marshall and Warren Award for his research on the mechanisms underlying the development…

The European Commission recently approved Erelzi, a biosimilar etanercept drug manufactured by the Sandoz division of Switzerland’s Novartis, for all therapeutic indications of its reference medicine Enbrel (etanercept), including ankylosing spondylitis. The June 27 announcement followed an extensive analytical, preclinical and clinical program focused on Erelzi, formerly known…