News

Apricus Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing innovative medicines in the field of rheumatology and urology, recently announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued the company a patent titled “Methods and compositions for treating Raynaud’s disease” with claims directed to treat Raynaud’s phenomenon. The patent will expire…

Botulinum toxin has been very popular for reducing wrinkles and more recently for treating painful conditions. The toxin may soon have a new use for another medical condition. Johns Hopkins University researchers are studying whether botulinum toxin can provide relief to people suffering from scleroderma-associated Raynaud’s Syndrome. Scleroderma is…

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a multisystem connective tissue disease characterized by vasculopathy and fibrosis. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is one of the most severe organ complications and a leading cause of death in SSc. Estimations are that patients with SSc that have associated PAH have a 3-year survival of…

Italian scientists may have identified a way to improve systemic sclerosis (SSc) symptoms with fat grafts. A recent study titled “Autologous Fat Grafting in the Treatment of Fibrotic Perioral Changes in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis” published in the journal Cell Transplantation showed that…

Researchers at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York reported that adults with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) undergoing lung transplantation in the United States are almost 50% more likely to die within one year than people who have lung disease, transplantion but no…

Controlling procedural pain in the debridement of scleroderma-associated digital ulcers led to better outcomes and treatment adherence among patients, according to recent research. Originally described at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting 2013, the study monitored treatment of 51 digital ulcers in 32 systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients at…

A multi-national team of researchers attempting to find precise clinical indicators that would increase post-diagnosis survival times among patients living with systemic scleroderma (SSc), have recently published a study with promising conclusions.  The study consisted of patients previously diagnosed with SSc from the European League Against Rheumatism Scleroderma…

Cytori Therapeutics, Inc announced that the information recently presented in San Francisco regarding the STAR trial, a pivotal clinical trial for scleroderma, is now available on Cytori’s official website. Dr. Dinesh Khanna, Professor of Rheumatology and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and Director of the…

A collaborative group of researchers, based in Australia and China, have found that early screening for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) using two recently developed methods resulted in identification of PAH in 100% of individuals screened. The study, titled A Comparison of the Predictive Accuracy of Three…

Selexipag (ACT-293987), under development by Actelion, may be able to help individuals affected by “Raynaud’s Phenomenon Secondary to Systemic Sclerosis” in an international phase 2 clinical trial that is currently recruiting participants. The trial, initiated in October 2014, is slated to end in April 2015…