Current medical research and opinion
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Safety and efficacy of galcanezumab in Taiwanese Patients: a post-hoc analysis of phase 3 studies in episodic and chronic migraine.
Migraine is a chronic, disabling neurological disease affecting >1 billion people worldwide. Migraine remains undertreated in Asia, including Taiwan. Galcanezumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that selectively binds calcitonin gene-related peptide, a peptide firmly established in the pathophysiology of migraine, with demonstrated efficacy and safety in patients with episodic or chronic migraine. Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of galcanezumab in Taiwanese patients with episodic or chronic migraine. ⋯ Galcanezumab is a promising therapeutic for the preventive treatment of migraine in the Taiwanese population.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
User experiences with second-generation 32-gauge x 4 mm vs. thinner comparator pen needles: prospective randomized trial.
Two similarly designed studies compared user experiences with a second-generation extra-thin-wall, 5-bevel 32 G × 4 mm pen needle (PN) with redesigned hub versus four thinner commercially available PNs. ⋯ The investigational 32 G PN was associated with less participant-reported injection pain and less perceived dose delivery force compared with four thinner PNs, suggesting no additional pain reduction or force reduction benefit conferred by the thinner PNs.
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Comparative Study
Patient-reported outcomes in RELAY, a Phase 3 trial of ramucirumab plus erlotinib versus placebo plus erlotinib in untreated EGFR-mutated metastatic NSCLC.
In the phase 3 RELAY trial, ramucirumab/erlotinib demonstrated superior progression-free survival (PFS) over placebo/erlotinib in patients with EGFR-mutated metastatic NSCLC (median PFS 19.4 versus 12.4 months; HR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.46-0.76; p < .0001). Safety was consistent with established profiles for ramucirumab and erlotinib in NSCLC. Here, we present patient-reported outcomes. ⋯ Patients' overall quality of life and symptom burden did not differ with the addition of ramucirumab to erlotinib compared to placebo/erlotinib. These data support the clinical benefit of ramucirumab/erlotinib in untreated EGFR-mutated metastatic NSCLC.
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Observational Study
Minor bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation using a non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant.
We sought to investigate the magnitude of minor bleeding and identify risk factors for minor bleeds during non-vitamin-K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC) therapy. ⋯ Our data showed that minor bleeds are common in novel NOAC users, especially when using apixaban and rivaroxaban. In the latter two NOACs, hematoma (bruises) and nose bleeds were more frequently observed and accounted for the difference with dabigatran. Besides type of NOAC, a higher HAS-BLED score and novel anticoagulant drug use were associated with an increased risk of minor bleeding.
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There are significant differences in costs and effectiveness among the second-line treatment options for type 2 diabetes (T2DM). We aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the second-line anti-diabetic therapy in T2DM patients inadequately controlled on metformin (MET) in Taiwan from the perspective of the National Health Insurance (NHI). ⋯ The addition of either SU or SGLT-2-i to MET was found to be cost-effective, using the 2019 forecast for GDP per capita of Taiwan (NT$770,770) as the willingness to pay (WTP) threshold.