Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received a third case of a serious and often fatal neurological disorder known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with the drug Rituxan (rituximab). The report has led the agency to inform rheumatological health care professionals that patients with RA who have received Rituxan are at an increased risk of PML. Physicians should consider the risks in any patient treated with Rituxan who presents new onset neurological manifestations. The FDA advises consultation with a neurologist, brain MRI, and lumbar puncture should be considered as clinically indicated.

Read the rest of this entry »