Dear All,

Greetings!

In this issue, we have discussed phase II studies of newer IL-6 inhibitors. The successful treatment of rheumatoid arthritis by tocilizumab has encouraged the development of new bDMARDs targeting IL-6 or IL-6R. Recently, the phase II clinical trials of olokizumab, sarilumab and sirukumab, three new bDMARDs targeting IL-6, have been published. The safety and efficacy of these are comparable to tocilizumab. They would probably have a future role in the management of patients with MTX-IR and TNF-IR disease.

While the favorable metabolic effects of hydroxychloroquine are well known, there is data on methotrexate reducing the glycosylated hemoglobin in RA patients. Single-dose rituximab will be relevant in inducing remission in patients with vasculitis in our practice and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation may have a role in extending event-free survival in patients with systemic sclerosis.

In the ‘Expert Opinion’ section, juvenile idiopathic arthritis is discussed by Professor A.V. Ramanan.

We sincerely request all members to post their questions to us so that we can put these up for our experts to answer.

We welcome your suggestions to improve this IRA activity. Please post your suggestions/comments on iraenewsletter@hotmail.com

Regards,

Banwari Sharma
Editor, IRA e-News Letter