Loading...
Pemphigus vulgaris can be life-threatening if left untreated. Few placebo-controlled, randomized trials have tested the efficacy and safety of therapies for this disease, but conventional treatments, particularly high-dose corticosteroids, are associated with considerable toxicity. Biologic therapeutic agents, discussed in recent case reports, can cause serious infections in some patients. These investigators studied combined intravenous rituximab and immune globulin therapy for pemphigus vulgaris, testing whether immune globulin would prevent the infectious complications of rituximab.
They performed an open-label observation study in 11 patients with severe, recalcitrant pemphigus vulgaris unresponsive to conventional therapies, including i…