Clinical

The August issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) featured research on surprise medical billing policies, social determinants of health, and the value of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies, among other topics. Here are 5 findings from research published in the issue.

Researchers showed the potential of combining 2 precision medicines to overcome treatment resistance.

The viewpoint paints a picture of a challenge that is 2-fold: a growing amount of people are injecting opioids in rural communities, which is an emerging risk factor for HIV transmission, and these communities often lack the infrastructure or resources to prevent, diagnose, and treat HIV.

Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a precursor to multiple myeloma (MM), can progress from low- or intermediate-risk to MM in just 5 years, according to researchers who are now recommending all patients with MGUS undergo blood testing and risk assessment.

As a progressive condition, diabetes presents an ongoing challenge for physicians to provide adequate control of patients’ disease, and new agents with novel mechanisms of action help reduce the burden in the management of diabetes.

The brain shrinkage that occurs in patients with multiple sclerosis may be the result of a specific brain cell: When projection neurons are damaged, the brain shrinks.

Encouraging patient adherence to medication is very important to managing the cost of multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies, said Patty Taddei-Allen, PharmD, MBA, BCACP, BCGP, director, outcomes research, WelldyneRx.

Patients with obesity not only have a higher risk of pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS), but they also do not respond as well to first-line medications.

A new blood test being developed in the United Kingdom has been shown to not only identify those infected with human tuberculosis (TB) but also identify those most at risk of developing it.

A new study by Mayo Clinic Researchers calls into question the current standard of care for treating smoldering multiple myeloma.

Two abstracts presented at the American Academy of Neurology 2019 Annual Meeting evaluated misdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis.