News

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…

Imraldi, an investigative biosimilar product to Humira (adalimumab), received a positive review from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as a potential treatment for ankylosing spondylitis and other conditions. This favorable opinion may help Samsung Bioepis (a venture created…

Patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) who smoke are twice as likely to have cumulative spinal structural damage, according to preliminary results of a systematic review study conducted by researchers at the Izmir Katip Celebi University, Turkey. This finding was the subject of an oral presentation titled “The…

Novartis recently announced that its leading drug Cosentyx (secukinumab) improves both signs and symptoms of active ankylosing spondylitis (AS), according to the results of a three-year Phase 3 extension trial called MEASURE 1. The findings were presented recently at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2017) in Madrid, Spain.