Rosanna Sutherby, Pharm.D.

Home testing for fecal calprotectin, a commonly used marker in IBD diagnosis, and symptom quetionnaires might hasten the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.

Although several clinical trials have confirmed the safety and efficacy of rituximab in oncology and autoimmune disease, and even as off-label use in MS, real-world evidence is still necessary to help guide clinicians and managed care professionals in their treatment and coverage decision-making.

At 12 months, the rate of IBD-related surgeries for the monitored group was 1% versus 7% for the control group.

Drug repurposing has recently emerged as an attractive pathway for developing new treatments due to its relatively fast and cost-efficient trajectory. Because obesity and MS share inflammatory properties, researchers used data from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System to investigate the association between weight loss-inducing drugs and MS

If the company' experimental agent is approved, it would join Humira (adalimumab), Rinvoq (upadacitinib) and Skyrizi (risankizumab) in AbbVie's portfolio.

Darina Georgieva, Pharm.D., and her colleagues from the department of pharmaceutical services at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, conducted a retrospective observational study to learn the costs avoided through specialty pharmacist interventions for patients at the Vanderbilt MS Clinic. The study results were published in the Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy earlier this month.

Fecal microbiota transplant has not been approved for ulcerative colitis, but off-label use is a possiblity.

Insurance policy adherence to clinical guidelines ranged from 6% to 59%, according to findings reported in American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Elimination of insurance-mandated step therapy and allowing the Medicare beneficiaries to use copay assistance programs are among the changes the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) wants to see.

Seres Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the recipients.

Women are at risk for disease progression when they stop treatment for multiple sclerosis during pregnancy.

As with adult-onset MS, early treatment of pediatric-onset MS (POMS) is essential to halt disease progression, including early disability, brain volume loss, and cognitive impairment.

Biotech companies and researchers are investigating whether psychedelics could be used to treat a variety of mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Advances in MS disease management have included the emergence of monoclonal antibodies as effective disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for MS. FDA-approved treatments include Tysabri (natalizumab), Lemtrada (alemtuzumab), Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), and Kesimpta (ofatumumab).

In a retrospective study, researchers from Humana in Louisville, KY, compared clinical outcomes, time on treatment, healthcare resources utilization, and relative costs in patients with MS that were newly initiated on one of the following oral DMTs: dimethyl fumarate, fingolimod, or teriflunomide.

Studies have shown that the use of oral corticosteroids in patients with UC is associated with higher rates of adverse effects and use of healthcare resources compared with biologics or immunosuppressants. However, there is little research focusing on the economic and clinical burden of chronic corticosteroid use among people living with UC.

Historically, health disparities have disproportionately affected underrepresented people with MS, particularly Black and Latinx females.

The success of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 has led to a surge of mRNA vaccines being developed for other diseases.

Study authors hypothesized that factors such as depression, IBD medications, and stomach or rectal surgery may play a role in the increased risk of erectile dysfunction in patients with IBD.

Research scientist Dr. Cristina A. F. Román, based at the Kessler Foundation’s Rocco Ortenzio Neuroimaging Center, secured a $704,054 grant for a five-year mixed-method study exploring the impact of healthcare barriers on cardiovascular risk factors and accelerated brain aging in Latinos with multiple sclerosis (MS), an under-researched community facing more severe disease outcomes;

A recent study found all women with a first-time perinatal depression diagnosis or who had been prescribed an antidepressant from the estimated date of conception to one year postpartum.

Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), marketed by Genentech, is a CD20-directed monoclonal antibody FDA-approved in 2017 to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) as well as primary progressive MS (PPMS). It's currently the only disease-modifying treatment approved for treating PPMS.

The CAR T-cell therapy targets the CD19 protein ubiquitous on the surface of B cells, which are known to mediate various types of autoimmune diseases, including MS.

Janssen Biotech's Remicade (infliximab), an FDA-approved tumor necrosis factor inhibitor since 1998 for Crohn's disease, has gained additional approvals for managing ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The American Gastroenterological Association recommendations do not take a stand for or against using probiotics for those with intermittent pouchitis.

Lipoprotein(a) is a cardiovascular disease risk factor that does not change with diet and exercise. There are no FDA-approved treatments, but two candidates are in phase 3 trials.

A subset of natural killer cells may be a potential target for the development of agents protective against MS.