News

Activities ranging from sporting wearable art to highlighting “patient heroes” are underway to mark Vasculitis Awareness Month (VAM), set aside each May to call attention to this rare autoimmune disease. International Vasculitis Day is May 15. Awareness and education are crucial to increasing the recognition, diagnosis, understanding, and management of…

A molecule released by platelets — cell fragments in the blood that form clots and stop or prevent bleeding — appears to contribute to the progression of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) by triggering a defense mechanism carried out by white blood cells. Researchers now have identified a key signaling event…

Nucala (mepolizumab) is effective and safe in combination with corticosteroids to treat eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), resulting in decreased disease activity and increased remission rates than standard treatment alone, a small study has found. Patients taking Nucala received…

More than half of the people with rare diseases and their caregivers, asked in a survey, were undecided or less than willing to be vaccinated for COVID-19 if a vaccine was approved under emergency use authorization instead of the routine process, the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Disease reports. These findings…

Serious infections occur more frequently in people with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis who have higher disease activity at diagnosis, a real-world, long-term study showed. Moreover, most serious infections occur during the first year after the ANCA vasculitis diagnosis, the study found.

The EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases is accepting applications for a scholarship program that aims to help adults with a rare disease pursue personal goals through training and education. For a second year, the #RAREis Scholarship Fund — supported by Horizon Therapeutics – will award 35 one-time scholarships, each…

Vasculitis UK has granted £53,364 (about $73,500) to support a research project investigating how people with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) and other vasculitis respond to COVID-19 vaccines.  Led by Lucy Fairclough, PhD, an associate professor at Nottingham University, in the U.K., the project seeks to…

A committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is holding a public meeting to discuss the potential approval of avacopan for the treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). During the meeting of the FDA’s Arthritis Advisory Committee, members will review safety and efficacy data of Chemocentryx’s…

In patients with systemic vasculitis like ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), glucocorticoid use and respiratory disease are linked with severe COVID-19 outcomes, a recent study reports. “Together with reports of other cohorts exposed to immunosuppressant medication, these data could inform future public health guidance for individuals…

The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) has established alternative consensus treatment plans for children and adolescents with severe ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). These plans, which compare two therapies for induction and maintenance of remission in pediatric…