Articles By Michael Putman, MD, MSCI
To Pulse or Not to Pulse in ANCA Associated Vasculitis?
Randomized trials typically get top billing at ACR Convergence, but the past three years have seen “target trial emulations” land coveted plenary sessions and oral abstracts. These are not actually trials; instead, they are a new-ish approach to generating causal inferences from observational datasets. One particularly interesting oral presentation from ACR used this idea to investigate a critical question in ANCA associated vasculitis: should we be giving pulse dose steroids?
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Efgartigimod: A New Mechanism for Myositis?
Abstracts come and go, but new trials and new mechanisms stay with us for the long haul. One of the more interesting new mechanisms is the FcRn drugs, and at ACR Convergence 2026 we got to see positive results from the Phase 3 ALKIVIA trial for efgartigimod.
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RITAZAREM: Three Things I Learned about AAV Maintenance
One of the most common questions I receive in my vasculitis clinic is one of the most difficult to answer: “When can we stop rituximab?” While we know everyone needs therapy for at least one year and have reasonably good data for 18 months, whether folks should continue after that remains an open question. That is why I was especially excited to see a post hoc analysis of RITAZAREM, which followed patients for up to 48 months from enrollment.
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EBR Journal Club: Secukinumab in Polymyalgia Rheumatica (REPLENISH)
This edition: REPLENISH (secukinumab in polymyalgia rheumatica). The EBR Journal Club Companion applies my adapted version of the JAMA approach to critical appraisal to an important RCT in rheumatology. Each review covers four domains: Does this apply to my patients? What is the risk of bias? How great are the benefits and harms? And what didn’t they show me?
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EBR Journal Club: Brepocitinib in Dermatomyositis (VALOR)
The EBR Journal Club Companion applies my adapted version of the JAMA approach to critical appraisal. Each review covers four domains: Does this apply to my patients? What is the risk of bias? How great are the benefits and harms? And what didn’t they show me? Feel free to use this in your own journal clubs! This edition: VALOR (brepocitinib in dermatomyositis).
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EBR Journal Club: Obexelimab in IgG4-Related Disease (INDIGO)
The EBR Journal Club Companion applies my adapted version of the JAMA approach to critical appraisal to an important RCT in rheumatology. Each review covers four domains: Does this apply to my patients? What is the risk of bias? How great are the benefits and harms? And what didn’t they show me? This edition: INDIGO (obexelimab in IgG4-related disease).
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EBR Journal Club: Dapirolizumab Pegol in SLE (PHOENYCS GO)
The EBR Journal Club Companion applies my adapted version of the JAMA approach to critical appraisal to an important RCT in rheumatology. Each review covers four domains: Does this apply to my patients? What is the risk of bias? How great are the benefits and harms? And what didn’t they show me? This edition: PHOENYCS GO (dapirolizumab pegol in SLE).
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Sjögren's disease RCTs: Has the Long Drought Ended?
Sjögren's disease has been a difficult space for new FDA approvals. At ACR 2025, two late breaking abstracts have triggered hope for patients suffering from Sjögren's disease.
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The Great Debate – Who Really Won?
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.
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Sooner May Still Be Too Late: Kidney Biopsies in SLE
ACR Convergence 2025 will be kicking off with a Plenary Session by Michelle Petri (Abstract 0772: Redefining When to Biopsy the Kidney in Patients with SLE), which is a great place to kick off our coverage of the meeting. As part of a collaboration with the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, Petri and colleagues have given data to what many of us have long suspected: a biopsy threshold of 0.5g/d of proteinuria may be too high.
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