IL-23 Blockade Goes Oral

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A new player is entering the IL-23 arena — and it’s a tablet! Icotrokinra (ICO), a first-in-class peptide that binds and blocks the interleukin-23 receptor (IL-23R), is showing encouraging efficacy and safety across a range of psoriasis (PSO) and psoriatic disease (PsD) studies.

Sjogren’s disease: two drugs with positive trials

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After several failures of therapies in Phase 3 trials of Sjogren’s disease (SjD) over many years, all hope is not lost!

Beyond the Breakthrough: Equity and Access in CAR-T Cell Therapy for RA

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At ACR Convergence 2025, abstract 1039 entitled, “Global Cost-Effectiveness and Equity in CAR-T Cell Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis” adds a critical dimension to the growing enthusiasm around cellular therapies in autoimmune disease.

Stopping therapy in GCA

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They say the easiest bit about GCA, like PMR, is the first week after you start steroids. Those fond memories belie the challenge of ongoing treatment in GCA. In a steroid-only world, there is only misery. Steroid-sparing therapies have changed this completely.

Weight Loss as a Therapeutic Goal in Psoriatic Arthritis

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Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a complex inflammatory disease often complicated by obesity, which not only worsens disease activity but also impairs treatment response. At ACR Convergence 2025, three compelling studies spanning pharmacologic, lifestyle, and longitudinal observational data converged on a central theme: weight loss is a powerful modulator of PsA outcomes, regardless of the intervention used.

IgG4: Rare, but new treatments on the horizon

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IgG4 is a rare autoimmune disease with excessive IgG4 immunoglobulins that can affect multiple organs yielding plasma cell deposition (inflammation) and fibrosis.

Upadacitinib: revisiting safety data in RA and GCA

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For the last several years, conversations about JAK inhibitors have often started and ended with safety. The shadow cast by ORAL Surveillance has made clinicians more cautious and regulators more restrictive.

ACR 2025 - Day 3 Report

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Day 3 in Chicago is hump day, the last big full day of presentations and posters.  The day began with an 8AM plenary session, which brings me to the first of my three notables from today:

The Great Debate – Who Really Won?

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My favorite session at ACR Convergence is often the “Great Debate.” The debate this year also evaluated one of my favorite topics – ultrasound in giant cell arteritis (GCA). More specifically, it asked the question of whether biopsy or ultrasound should be the preferred modality for diagnosing GCA.

Microbiome may hold key to methotrexate response in RA

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Methotrexate (MTX) remains the cornerstone of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment, yet it remains unclear as to how to predict who will respond to it. Two studies presented at ACR (Abstracts 2639 and 2643) suggest the answer may be hiding in the gut.

ACR25 Best Abstracts - Day 3

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Tweeting about an ACR presentation or poster is a skill and sometimes art -- one that is mastered by the RheumNow faculty roving the halls and floors for the best new insights at ACR Convergence 2025.

Accelerated Aging in Rheumatic Disease: From Biology to Lifestyle Intervention

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At ACR 2025, the session “27M02: Nutrition for Rheumatic Disease: Where Aging Biology, Sarcopenia, and Diet Intersect” invited the audience to view rheumatic disease through the lens of biological aging and to consider how nutrition and exercise can serve as integrative lifestyle interventions.