In a clinical trial conducted by the CDC's Tuberculosis Trials Consortium in collaboration with the NIH-funded AIDS Clinical Trials Group, a new 4-month regimen for treatment of drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis was found to be noninferior to 6 months of standard treatment.

View the Table: Some Drugs for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The FDA has approved a fixed-dose combination of omeprazole, amoxicillin, and rifabutin (Talicia – RedHill) for treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection in adults. Talicia is the first rifabutin-based product to be approved for this indication.

On June 25, 2021, the FDA added a warning to the Fact Sheets for the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech (Comirnaty) and Moderna (Spikevax) about an increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis following administration of the vaccines.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), referred to collectively as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are chronic immune-mediated inflammatory conditions. Guidelines for treatment of UC and CD have been updated in recent years

Rilonacept (Arcalyst – Kiniksa), an interleukin-1 (IL-1) antagonist that has been available for years for treatment of cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes, has now been approved by the FDA for treatment of recurrent pericarditis and prevention of further recurrences in patients ≥12 years old. It is the first drug to be approved in the US for this indication. Anakinra (Kineret), an IL-1 receptor antagonist FDA-approved for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, has been used off-label for years for treatment of recurrent pericarditis.

The FDA has approved the injectable interleukin (IL)-17A/17F antagonist bimekizumab-bkzx (Bimzelx – UCB) for treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults who are candidates for systemic treatment or phototherapy. Bimekizumab is the first IL-17A/17F antagonist to be approved in the US. It was approved in the European Union for the same indication in 2021.

The FDA has approved Tarpeyo (Calliditas), a delayed-release capsule formulation of the corticosteroid budesonide, to reduce proteinuria in adults with primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN; also called Berger's disease) who are at risk of rapid disease progression. It is the fi rst drug to be approved in the US for this indication. Oral formulations of budesonide have been available for years for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

The investigational oral antiviral drug molnupiravir (Merck/Ridgeback Biotherapeutics) was granted an FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) on December 23, 2021 for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in outpatients ≥18 years old who are at high risk of progressing to severe disease, including hospitalization or death (see Table 1), and for whom alternative treatment options are not available or clinically appropriate. Paxlovid (Pfizer), nirmatrelvir copackaged with ritonavir, was granted an EUA on December 22, 2021. The IV antiviral drug remdesivir (Veklury) was approved by the...

On December 22, 2021, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the investigational antiviral drug nirmatrelvir copackaged with the HIV-1 protease inhibitor ritonavir (Paxlovid – Pfizer) for oral treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in outpatients ≥12 years old who weigh at least 40 kg and are at high risk of progressing to severe disease, including hospitalization or death. Paxlovid was the first oral antiviral drug to be authorized in the US for treatment of COVID-19; Merck's oral antiviral drug molnupiravir was granted an EUA for treatment of COVID-19 on...