Drs. Jack Cush & Arthur Kavanaugh, two of rheumatology’s most trusted voices, provide a breakdown of the latest breakthroughs and hottest topics in rheumatology from the 2025 ACR Convergence meeting in Chicago.

New research presented at ACR Convergence 2025 highlights how the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) registry—the nation’s largest collection of electronic health record data from rheumatology practices—is driving transformative improvements in quality, safety, and patient outcomes across rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.

The GLP-1 story has been hard to miss this year, and at ACR Convergence, it’s clear that these drugs are starting to make real waves in rheumatology. Across multiple abstracts, investigators have used a large real-world dataset, the TriNetX network, to explore how GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) might influence cardiovascular, renal and immune-mediated outcomes in our patients.

At ACR Convergence 2025, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, researchers presented pivotal Phase III studies highlighting novel therapeutic options for patients with gout, particularly those with limited treatment choices or uncontrolled disease. The findings underscore continuing progress in addressing a significant unmet need for safer, more effective therapies in this common and often debilitating condition.