SEATTLE — In this Healio Video Perspective from the ASRS annual meeting, Dante J. Pieramici, MD, overviews pharmacokinetics and safety data for sozinibercept.
Sozinibercept (Opthea), formerly known as OPT-302, is a VEGF-C/D “trap” inhibitor that has demonstrated improved vision and anatomic outcomes in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration when used in combination with VEGF-A inhibitors, according to Pieramici.
“This drug seems to be very safe when used in combination,” he said. “There was really no additional ocular or systemic safety events

PHILADELPHIA — Nonhormone therapy options for vasomotor symptoms are important considerations for women who are not good candidates for or may not want to initiate hormone therapy, according to a speaker.
Menopausal HT remains the most effective treatment for vasomotor symptoms (VMS) and should be considered in women at or around the time of menopause without contraindications; however, some women may not choose to or may not be candidates for HT, Chrisandra L. Shufelt, MD, MS, FACP, NCMP, chair of the division of general internal medicine, senior consultant at the Mayo Clinic Women’s

Infant hospitalization for congenital syphilis increased 10-fold from 2016 to 2022 in Mississippi, from 10 cases per year to 110 cases per year, according to an analysis of hospital discharge data.
Congenital syphilis cases in the U.S. have more than tripled in recent years, according to the CDC. The more than 2,000 cases reported in 2021 was the highest total since 1994.
Multiple factors have been linked to recent increases in congenital syphilis, including access to care, psychiatric conditions and substance abuse.
Mississippi has the highest preterm birth rate (14.96%) and highest infant

PHILADELPHIA — The short-term effects of postmenopausal hormone therapies on the vascular system and the brain may differ from long-term effects and could be influenced by HT formulation and administration route, according to a speaker.
Observational studies have reported conflicting findings on the risks and benefits of HT with respect to cognitive function; however, there may be confounding factors and biases associated with observational studies looking for treatment effects, Kejal Kantarci, MD, MS, professor of radiology and director at Mayo Clinic Women’s Health Research

PHILADELPHIA — At 10 years of follow-up, women who had been assigned menopausal hormone therapy in the KEEPS study had cognitive function scores similar to those of women assigned placebo, according to a speaker.
Preliminary data from the KEEPS-Continuation study show “no harm, no benefit” of menopausal HT on cognition at 48 months or at 10 years after randomization, according to Carey Gleason, PhD, FABMR, FAPS, associate professor in the department of medicine, division of geriatrics and gerontology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, who presented findings at the Annual

PHILADELPHIA — The number of women aged at least 50 years prescribed hormone therapy for menopause symptoms remains low, particularly for Hispanic women, despite good efficacy and safety, according to a presenter.
Prevalence of HT use was 22.4% in 1999 to 2000, said Talia Sobel, MD, NCMP, a women's health internal medicine physician at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, during a presentation at the Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society.
But HT prescriptions plummeted after publication of the Women’s Health Initiative trials from 2002 to 2004 due to fears that HT increased CVD and

Both methotrexate and cyclosporin are efficacious in the treatment of severe pediatric atopic dermatitis, but methotrexate showed higher rates of sustained treatment response, according to a study.
“Although a bit slower in onset of action (12 weeks follow-up point), methotrexate is more efficacious than cyclosporin in the long run,” Carsten Flohr, MD, chair of dermatology and population health sciences at King’s College London and the study’s lead author, told Healio.
“Disease control was also better in the Methotrexate arm after stopping treatment and is

PHILADELPHIA — In a small study, more women with obesity reported vasomotor, genitourinary, mood and libido symptoms associated with menopause than their peers without obesity, according to a presenter.
In addition, women with obesity reported less relief of menopausal symptoms with either systemic or local hormone therapy, Anita Pershad, MD, a resident in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, said during her presentation at the Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society.
“Obesity may worsen a woman’s menopausal symptoms and limit the

PHILADELPHIA — In this video exclusive, Stephanie Faubion, MD, MBA, FACP, NCMP, IF, provides pearls for use of menopausal hormone therapy by women with chronic conditions.
Faubion is the director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health in Jacksonville, Florida, and the medical director of The Menopause Society.
“Most women in the U.S. have at least one chronic medical condition, and many women over the age of 50 [years] have more than that,” Faubion said. “So, it’s important to consider that when you’re prescribing hormone therapy, most of the time

Healio continues its partnership with Cardiometabolic Health Congress in support of the much-anticipated 18th Annual Cardiometabolic Health Congress: Social Determinants and Digital Advances in Cardiorenal Metabolic Health in October.
The annual event returns to Boston as CMHC welcomes its provider audience, expert faculty and industry pillars to Boston Park Plaza for 4 days of didactic lectures, interactive sessions, expert roundtables, audience Q&As and more educational opportunities.
Curated by CMHC's esteemed Planning Committee, Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, Erin D. Michos, MD, MHS, Keith