Immune Dimming or Immune Reset in RA: How Far Should We Go?

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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.

New: Classification Critiera and Recommendations in SpA

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ASAS and the SPARTAN have updated their key classification criteria for axial SpA (axSpA). EULAR has also recently revised their recommendations on the role of imaging in the diagnosis and clinical management of spondyloarthritis (SpA). Both were presented at the EULAR 2026 annual Congress in London.

Day 3 EULAR Report

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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.

5 years since Patient ID001: Progress on CAR-T Therapy in RMD

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Five years on, are we closer to licensing of the first CAR-T therapy in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD)?

Biologic Class Determines PsA Risk in Psoriasis

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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.

Strike First: TNFi vs. Step-Up Therapy in Early Peripheral SpA

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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.

How to treat SLE in 2026 and beyond!

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There are so many SLE trials, and over the last year, many new ideas have been suggested.

Updates in SLE and APS

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Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) often overlap. While there have been some therapeutic advances, significant needs remain around diagnosis and monitoring, with a gap around definitions and biomarkers for refractory disease or specific subsets.

New biomarkers in RA: Who to treat, Who to watch, Who to taper?

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

Exploring Idiopathic Myopathies

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Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a heterogenous group of autoimmune conditions with substantial morbidity. EULAR in collaboration with the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) introduced classification criteria for the major subgroups in 2017,1 but there is a need for contemporary real-world data to understand the burden – and well as new ways of assessing disease activity.

Day 2 Report from EULAR 2026

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Day two at EULAR 2026 was jammed with sessions on advances in immune checkpoint inhhbitors (and irAEs), Lupus, Scleroderma, RA and IgG4 related disease.  Here are a few of my favorites from Day 2. 

New JAK inhibitors in the axSpA treatment landscape

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At EULAR 2026, two large phase 3 studies highlight that the JAK story in axSpA is still evolving rapidly, with different selectivity profiles and expanding global development programs continuing to push the field forward.