Secukinumab was effective for psoriasis in two randomized trials, validating interleukin-17A as a therapeutic target. (Funded by Novartis Pharmaceuticals; ERASURE and FIXTURE ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT01365455 and NCT01358578, respectively.).

Primary efficacy objectives were not met in the studies reported herein. Possible reasons for failure to achieve significant outcomes include insufficient length of treatment; stringency of primary endpoint and severity of nail involvement of study population.

To investigate whether the novel, potent and highly selective 5-hydroxytryptamine3 (5-HT3) receptor antagonist ICS 205-930 can prevent migraine attacks, we conducted simultaneously two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre, international trials, involving a total of 204 patients, suffering from classic or common migraine. Both trials had the same parallel-group design (1 month baseline observation, followed by 3 months treatment) and both produced remarkably similar results. The primary efficacy parameter was the proportional reduction in attack frequency recorded after 3 months of treatment. Twenty-two patients withdrew prematurely from the trials and could not be assessed for efficacy. Mild to severe constipation was reported by about 50% of the patients on active treatment. None of the doses of ICS 205-930 tested (50 mg, 25 mg and 15 mg daily) produced a statistically significantly better result to reduce attack frequency than did placebo. However, confidence intervals for the difference in effect with placebo were wide, indicating that 15 mg ICS 205-930 may produce a 57% reduction in attack frequency as compared to placebo. The most unusual finding was that, for all efficacy parameters, the best results were obtained with the lowest dose (15 mg), the worst results with the highest dose (50 mg) and an intermediate effect with 25 mg. Such an inverse relation between dose and efficacy suggests a bell-shaped dose-response curve, implying that doses lower than 15 mg might well prove to be more effective. Thus, the present study has produced inconclusive, but intriguing results. Lower doses should be further investigated before drawing any definite conclusion on the efficacy of ICS 205-930 in the prophylactic treatment of migraine.

The development of sensitive measures to capture changes in core autism symptoms is crucial in early intervention research. The study examines the sensitivity to change of the Autism Behavior Coding System (ABCS), a video‐based instrument to assess core autism symptoms during therapist‐child interaction. Video sequences of 40 young children treated in the Frühintervention bei Autistischen Störungen center were analyzed with regard to the question of whether short‐term changes during an 18 day period of early intervention could be captured, and whether these results are reflected in an independent clinical assessment (Developmental Disorders‐Child‐Global Assessment Scale [DD‐C‐GAS]). ABCS results showed statistically significant improvements on behavioral domains such as “expression of wishes” and “social cooperative behavior” (P < 0.01), less pronounced on “eye contact.” Improvements on the DD‐C‐GAS were highly significant on all subdomains. Both scales showed high correlations within their subdomains, yet no significant correlations between the changes in both instruments' scores were found. An additional analysis between the DD‐C‐GAS scores at day 18 and the changes in the ABCS scores showed statistically significant associations in the expected direction between the changes in the variable “eye contact” and all DD‐C‐GAS subdomains. The correspondence of the two levels of assessment is low, but the specifics of this relationship deserve further study. The ABCS may prove useful in addition to standard assessment tools, especially in early intervention research settings, as it allows reliable analysis of core behavioral elements in young children with autism. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1817–1828. © 2019 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Lay SummaryThe study examined the sensitivity of an autism‐specific video coding system (ABCS) in assessing changes after an 18 day period of intensive early intervention. Video sequences of therapist‐child‐interaction of 40 young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were analyzed. Children's behavior improved in expression of wishes, social cooperativity and eye contact. A therapist‐based global assessment scale also showed important improvement after 18 days, yet both assessment instruments showed weak correlations between their respective changes. We showed that the ABCS may prove useful in capturing short‐term changes in autism‐related behaviors, especially in early intervention research.

Background: The efficacy, safety and tolerability of lumiracoxib, a novel selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, has been demonstrated in previous studies of patients with osteoarthritis (OA). As it is important to establish the long-term safety and efficacy of treatments for a chronic disease such as OA, the present study compared the effects of lumiracoxib at doses of 100 mg once daily (o.d.) and 100 mg twice daily (b.i.d.) with those of celecoxib 200 mg o.d. on retention on treatment over 1 year.