Disruption of CCR5 signaling to treat COVID-19-associated cytokine storm: Case series of four critically ill patients treated with leronlimab.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. The number of confirmed cases of infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19 continues to escalate with over 70 million confirmed cases and over 1.6 million confirmed deaths.

Albuminuria: when urine predicts kidney and cardiovascular disease.

Albuminuria is common. Traditionally considered a precursor to diabetic nephropathy, it has now been directly linked to adverse cardiovascular outcomes and death, independent of other risk factors. In this review, we compare the measures of albuminuria, examine the evidence linking it to renal failure, cardiovascular disease, and death, and provide recommendations for its testing and management.

Healthcare resource utilization following switch or discontinuation in multiple sclerosis patients on disease modifying drugs.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the cost and utilization in the period following discontinuations or switches of disease modifying drugs (DMDs) for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Secondary objectives included an assessment of the time to switch or discontinuation from index DMD treatment.

Methods: Cases were defined as a billed MS diagnosis in continuously enrolled patients initiated with interferon-beta1a IM, interferon-beta1b SC, glatiramer acetate, and interferon-beta1a SC found in the PharMetrics Patient-Centric Database.

Persistence and adherence to disease modifying drugs among patients with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: This retrospective database study aimed to evaluate the adherence of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients on immunomodulatory treatments using claims data, and to identify differences between compliance and persistency measurements in the context of this disease.

Methods: Continuously enrolled MS patients treated with subcutaneous IFNbeta-1b (Betaseron * ), subcutaneous IFNbeta-1a (Rebif dagger ), intramuscular IFNbeta-1a (Avonex double dagger ), and subcutaneous glatiramer acetate (Copaxone section sign ).) were identified from the PharMetrics patient-centric database, and all information related to patient demographics and pharmacy claims for the drugs of interest were extracted.

Feasibility of using a large Clinical Data Warehouse to automate the selection of diagnostic cohorts.

Data from Clinical Data Warehouses (CDWs) can be used for retrospective studies and for benchmarking. However, automated identification of cases from large datasets containing data items in free text fields is challenging. We developed an algorithm for categorizing pediatric patients presenting with respiratory distress into Bronchiolitis, Bacterial pneumonia and Asthma using clinical variables from a CDW.