Given its association with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), there is considerable interest in assessing the

AimWe evaluated the relationship between liraglutide and acute pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer in an ongoing post-marketing safety assessment programme.MethodsInitiators of liraglutide, exenatide, metformin, pioglitazone or groups containing initiators of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors or sulfonylureas were identified in a US commercial health insurance claims database (1 February 2010 to 31 March 2013) and followed for a median of 15 months. We estimated incidence rates (IR/100 000 person-years), rate ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of new insurance claims with diagnoses of primary inpatient acute pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer from Poisson regression models.ResultsThe IR for acute pancreatitis for liraglutide was 187.5 compared with 154.4 for all non-glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based therapies (adjusted RR 1.10; CI 0.81–1.49). The IR for pancreatic cancer was 19.9 for liraglutide compared with 33.0 for all non-GLP-1-based therapies (adjusted RR 0.65; 95% CI 0.26–1.60).ConclusionWe did not observe excess risk of either outcome associated with liraglutide relative to individual or pooled comparator drugs.

Objective. To assess the risk of serious liver disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) taking methotrexate (MTX).Methods. We surveyed members of the American College of Rheumatology to determine previous use of MTX in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and to identify cases of cirrhosis and liver failure. Cases were confirmed by review of pathology specimens, findings from diagnostic testing, and clinical presentations. A caswontrol study was then conducted to ascertain prognostic factors. Case and control medical records