INTRODUCTION This study aimed to describe treatment changes (discontinuation, switching, and therapy add-on) following the initiation of biologic or nonbiologic oral disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients. METHODS Adult patients with ≥2 PsA diagnoses from physician office visits, initiated on a biologic or nonbiologic oral DMARD, were selected fro...

OBJECTIVE To compare discontinuation rates of first and second biologics in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by tumour-necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) status and identify predictors and reasons for discontinuation. METHODS From 1998 to 2011, self-reported medication use for RA was assessed every 6 months via questionnaire in a longitudinal study in the USA. Time-on-drug analyses were conducted for ...

PURPOSE Despite American College of Rheumatology recommendations, appropriate and timely initiation of biologic therapies does not always occur. This study examined openness to and preference for attributes of biologic therapies among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), differences in patients' and rheumatologists' perceptions, and discussions around biologic therapy initiation. PATIENTS...

BACKGROUND Moderate to severe plaque psoriasis has a serious effect on health-related quality of life. Patients treated with biologic medications place importance on satisfaction and treatment frequency options. We assessed patient-reported treatment satisfaction and dosing frequency choice with biologics. METHODS We used a health care claims database to identify patients with moderate to sev...

BACKGROUND Biologic therapies represent a significant advance in the treatment of psoriasis. However, no studies have examined the patient characteristics predictive of biologic treatment of psoriasis. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the frequency and predictors of treatment of psoriasis with biologics in three European countries, ie, France, Spain, and the UK. METHODS This was a c...

Objective This study was designed to directly compare the outcomes of tofacitinib therapy for methotrexate-refractory rheumatoid arthritis (RA) between biologic-naïve patients and patients who had experienced an inadequate response to biological agents. Methods We prospectively enrolled and followed 113 patients who had a high or moderate clinical disease activity index (CDAI) (36 biologic-naïv...

INTRODUCTION While there is a substantial body of literature on the comparative healthcare costs of biologics used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), nearly all of these investigations have been exclusively focused on anti-tumor necrosis factor-α (anti-TNF) agents in the setting of first-line biologic treatment. This study compared healthcare costs between RA patients treated with infused biol...

In view of the known effect of zinc on the crystalline nature of insulin, we have investigated whether zinc alters the biologic potency of this hormone. Using the rate of lipogenesis by rat epididymal adipocytes as an index of the biologic potency of insulin, we have shown that zinc exerts a potent stimulatory effect upon lipogenesis in vitro similar to, but quite independently of, insulin and ...