Brepocitinib improved skin-specific symptoms of dermatomyositis, according to an analysis of the phase 3 VALOR trial published in JAMA Dermatology.
These findings, which included rapid and durable reductions in itch and skin disease activity, come after the release of the primary efficacy and safety results in The New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting.
Cutaneous dermatomyositis is an autoimmune disease with no FDA-approved treatments, and therapies prescribed off-label are often ineffective, according to Victoria P. Werth, MD, MS,

In March 2020, as COVID-19 surged around the globe, Dolly Parton announced that she was making a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support research into treatments for the new coronavirus.
The university later confirmed that the money was used to create the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund, which supported early-stage research that led to the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Parton, the iconic country music superstar and actress who was renowned for her philanthropy, died Tuesday at the age of 80

The FDA has authorized for commercial use a wearable device for continuous monitoring of ketone and glucose levels in patients with diabetes aged at least 2 years, the agency and Abbott announced.
The device (Libre Duo 10 Day system, Abbott Diabetes) is the first in the world to continuously monitor both ketone and glucose and the first in the U.S. approved to continuously monitor ketone levels, and noticing rising ketone levels may prompt patients to seek care before the onset of diabetic ketoacidosis, according to press releases from the FDA and Abbott.
“Today’s authorization is a

A healthy, 15-year-old patient injured his right hand during a fistfight after school when he hit the other boy in the mouth.
When he got home, the patient’s mother cleaned a small laceration over his fourth metacarpophalangeal (MP) joint (knuckle) and applied a bandage. The next morning, his hand was somewhat swollen with erythema. He was taken to an urgent care clinic where he was found to have a fever of 101.8°F, mild swelling with erythema of his hand and normal radiographs. His tetanus immunizations were up to date, and he had no other complaints or pertinent findings. He was given a

Older adults with osteoporosis may have decreased risk for osteoarthritis if they initiate therapy with denosumab compared with an oral bisphosphonate, according to study data published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
In a target trial emulation study, researchers compared incident osteoarthritis rates between older adults who initiated denosumab for the first time with those who initiated oral bisphosphonates, as well as among older adults switching from oral bisphosphonates to denosumab compared with those who continued using oral bisphosphonates. Adults who were new medication

Nearly one in 13 children in the United States has food allergy, or an average of two children in every classroom.
That prevalence means back-to-school season is one of the most critical moments of the year for pediatricians and allergists to connect with their food allergic patients and impact their families’ trajectory of food allergy care.
This season is full of transitions, whether starting school for the first time or moving up to a new grade level. Office visits around these occasions often lead to fruitful discussions, opportunities to complete back-to-school forms, update

Statin therapy may attenuate much of the atherogenic effects associated with leuprolide for treatment of prostate cancer, according to a post hoc analysis of the REVELUTION trial published in JACC: CardioOncology.
CVD is the leading cause of the death in men with prostate cancer, and adding statin therapy to leuprolide, a less expensive alternative to relugolix with a more favorable CV safety profile, may improve outcomes in this population, researchers reported.
“The REVELUTION ... trial recently demonstrated that the gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist leuprolide, but not the

The FDA accepted United Therapeutics’ new drug application for ralinepag, a once-daily oral prostacyclin, for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension, according to a press release.
The new drug application (NDA) included data from the multicenter, global, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, event-driven phase 3 ADVANCE OUTCOMES trial, which were presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in May and published in The Lancet this month.
As Healio previously reported, the trial found a significantly decreased risk for clinical worsening event among

The percentage of oral targeted anticancer drugs used for indications with label-documented evidence of survival benefit increased between 2016 and 2021, according to a review of claims data from a large national insurer.
However, researchers still observed what they called “significant” use of — and spending on — oral targeted cancer drugs with no confirmed OS benefit.
“About half of the usage of these drugs is for indications that do have some survival benefit, which is encouraging. We also saw much lower levels of off-label use than had been reported in earlier studies,” lead author Mahnum

Serological profiling detected distinct immune-response changes long before symptoms emerged among patients who developed inflammatory bowel disease compared with healthy controls, according to a case-control study published in Gut.
Differences in antibody response were identified up to 10 years before diagnosis, notably to Epstein-Barr virus and bacterial flagellins.
“It has become evident that by the time we diagnose Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, the disease process has usually been underway for years,” study author Saurabh Mehandru, MD, professor of gastroenterology and director of