HCPLive Podcasts

In this episode of Joint Ventures, hosts Jack Arnold, MBBS, PhD, an academic clinical lecturer in rheumatology at the University of Leeds, and Rihards Buss, MD, a consultant rheumatologist at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, preview their unofficial countdown of the sessions, themes, and abstracts they are most excited about heading into the 2026 European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) Annual Meeting in London, June 3–6, including: 

Obesity, Weight Management, and Psoriatic Arthritis Sessions

Personalized Medicine and Biomarkers in RMDs Sessions

Fatigue and Quality of Life in Connective Tissue Disease Session

Mitochondrial DNA and Interferon: Upstream Drivers of Autoimmunity Session

Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition in Rheumatology Sessions

Axial Imaging in Axial Spondyloarthritis Session

Head-to-Head Superiority Trials in RA and PsA Sessions

CAR-T and CAR-NK Therapies: Efficacy, Limits, and What Comes Next Sessions

In the second part of this Joint Ventures episode on B cell therapies in rheumatic disease, hosts Jack Arnold, MBBS, PhD, and Rihards Buss, MD, return with guest Lucy Carter, MBBS, PhD, to move beyond the question of how to deplete B cells and toward the more conceptually challenging problem of what happens after depletion — and whether ianalumab's dual mechanism of action represents the most rational answer yet developed.
The episode examines the biologic rationale behind combining rituximab with belimumab, reviews the landmark NEPTUNUS Sjögren disease trials in which ianalumab became the first targeted therapy to meet a phase 3 primary endpoint in the disease, and discusses how emerging therapies may ultimately reshape treatment selection, steroid reduction strategies, and long-term management of autoimmune conditions including Sjögren disease and systemic lupus erythematosus.

In this episode of Joint Ventures, hosts Jack Arnold, MBBS, PhD, an academic clinical lecturer in rheumatology at the University of Leeds, and Rihards Buss, MD, a consultant rheumatologist at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, are joined by guest Lucy Carter, MBBS, PhD, a consultant rheumatologist at Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust and honorary clinical senior lecturer at Newcastle University, to examine nearly 2 decades of B cell–targeted therapy in rheumatic disease — a story that has proven considerably more complicated than its early promise suggested.
Carter, Arnold, and Buss trace the mixed legacy of rituximab in lupus and Sjögren disease and examining how incomplete B cell depletion, BAFF-driven rebound, and trial design limitations may have contributed to disappointing early results. The discussion then turns to newer approaches such as obinutuzumab, whose positive REGENCY and ALLEGORY trial data in lupus nephritis and systemic lupus erythematosus suggest that deeper, more durable B cell depletion may improve outcomes, while emerging CAR-T data raise broader questions about the future role of intensive immune reprogramming in autoimmune disease.

In this episode of Joint Ventures, hosts Jack Arnold, MBBS, PhD, an academic clinical lecturer in rheumatology at the University of Leeds, and Rihards Buss, MD, a consultant rheumatologist at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, turn from osteoarthritis to the inflammatory arthritides — examining what early data in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and lupus can and cannot yet tell us about the role of GLP-1 receptor agonists in disease modification.
“Everyone is talking about [GLP-1 RAs] and what it can do for our patients. Much more evidence is needed to be much more better understanding about increasing effects beyond weight loss is needed. And I think that evidence will be just coming out very rapidly, year by year… but I think this is not the case where we're going to wait for strong evidence, good quality RCT data before we start to start to use them,” Buss said.

In this episode of Joint Ventures, hosts Jack Arnold, MBBS, PhD, an academic clinical lecturer in rheumatology at the University of Leeds, and Rihards Buss, MD, a consultant rheumatologist at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, examine the growing evidence for GLP-1 receptor agonists in rheumatological disease — drugs originally developed for glycemic control that are now drawing serious attention as potential immunomodulators with implications across the specialty.
The conversation opens by tracing the arc of GLP-1 agonist development, from exenatide's approval in 2005 through to semaglutide's landmark cardiovascular and renal data in the SELECT1 and FLOW2 trials, before turning to the question now quietly circulating in rheumatology clinics: are these drugs doing something beyond shifting weight?