Much of the meeting came for the next CAR T readout. AB-101 drew attention for a different reason. It depletes B cells by a completely different route.

Across EULAR 2026 abstracts this year and presented in a session called “this is a woman’s world”, strong signals are emerging that the menopausal transition is associated with changes in disease phenotype, disease activity, and treatment response in both RA and PsA.

The Janus kinase inhibitor (JAKi) class has been increasingly used in the management of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) over the past five years, offering effective oral alternatives to injectable biologics. But are all JAK inhibitors the same?

The last day in London was exciting as both the Late-Breaking abstracts and new EULAR guidelines were presented. Guidelines presented addressed several significant unmet need areas including PMR, GCA, Takayasu’s arteritis, Vaccinations in Rheumatic patients, Imaging in spondyloarthritis and classification criteria for the Anti-Synthetase Syndrome. Here are but a few of my favorites from a list of many quality sessions.

B-cell targeting has moved to the centre of IgG4-related disease treatment, with inebilizumab, a CD19 depleter, as the recent benchmark. At EULAR 2026, INDIGO tested whether the disease can be controlled by switching B cells off rather than depleting them.

CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy has rapidly moved into autoimmune disease, driven in large part by striking reports in SLE, where sustained drug-free remission has raised the possibility of a true immune reset. In RA, where multiple effective therapeutic classes already exist, the relevance of such deep immune interventions remains uncertain.

Day 3 was an interesting mix of posters, oral presentations, and review sessions on many practical subjects like osteoarthritis, large vessel vasculitis, systemic sclerosis, and pregnancy. Here are a few of my recommended abstracts from Friday at EULAR 2026.

At EULAR 2026, Dr Nikolaos Kougkas presented data from a unique real-world cohort built within joint dermatology–rheumatology university centers, following 394 patients with psoriasis on bDMARDs for up to 17 years. We sat down with Dr Kougkas to unpack the methodology, challenge the results, and draw out the clinical implications for everyday practice.

The approach to the treatment of peripheral SpA has been the same for a long time. The guidelines recommend starting with NSAIDs, escalate to conventional synthetic DMARDs, typically sulfasalazine or methotrexate and reserve biologics for patients who fail those. According to a new phase 3 trial presented at EULAR 2026, there may be a different way to approach this.

Here is my summary of what EULAR 2026 is presenting to us in the field of biomarker-driven personalized care in RA.

At the "What Is New in Psoriatic Arthritis" session at EULAR 2026, Professor Dennis McGonagle (Leeds, UK) took the audience on a whirlwind yet compact tour of the field, touching on three themes: the pathophysiology of PsA, individualization of clinical management, and emerging research and future directions.

Treatment-refractory RA is more common than we sometimes admit. Roughly 11% of patients fail multiple b/tsDMARD classes, and for the ACPA-positive subset, rituximab has long been the fallback. It works, but it rarely produces durable disease-free intervals. CD19 CAR T-cell therapy was always going to be the question that followed the SLE data. Until EULAR 2026, that question had no prospective answer. The plenary session changed that.

Our therapeutic armamentarium in RA keeps on growing. New studies and new molecules, new mechanisms of action or new ways of using old drugs are presented every year at conferences. But which are the ones who can have an impact on our practice? Here is my selection of 3 abstracts presented at EULAR 2026 that identify therapeutic strategies that are well worth keeping on our radar.

Presented at EULAR 2026 London, Brepocitinib dual TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor with successful Phase 3 VALOR trial demonstrating significant improvement in skin and muscle symptoms in dermatomyositis (DM).

People with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD) are at risk of a number of comorbidities, from cardiovascular diseases to cognitive impairment and fractures. The 2026 EULAR Congress showcased new data and ideas around various comorbidities and drug safety issues in people with an RMD – highlighting the need for integrated care. Here are five abstracts to consider.