The Evidence Based Rheumatology Podcast

E131: A Sham-Controlled Sham of a Trial: RESET-RA

Today I cover the recent publication of the RESET-RA study, which evaluated vagal nerve stimulation to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Have a listen in full, but let me be clear upfront: I do not think this works and will not be referring any patients to receive it. This will forever be my pivotal example of the effect of unblinding, but would love to hear if you think different! 

 

Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04114-7

Supplement (see S4): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04114-7#Sec27

 

 

E130: Telitacicept for SLE

Surprisingly (unbelievably?) impressive RCT evaluating the Blys/APRIL inhibitor "telitacicept" for patients with SLE (mixed SLE and SLE-LN). Very curious to see where the FDA goes with this one. 

 

Paper: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2414719

E129: Long Term Routine Laboratory Monitoring in RA

Ever wonder how often you really need to check "monitoring" labs? If so then this is the podcast for you! Bryant England mentioned this during his excellent Year in Review session at ACR Convergence 2025. I've been meaning to cover it and finally got around to doing so. Have a listen and share with friends!

 

Paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40854212/

E128: Nerandomilast for Autoimmune ILD (FIBRONEER-ILD)

Covering a very interesting study this week, which investiaged the PDE4B inhibitor nerandomilast for patients with progressive pulmonary fibrosis (specifically including 325 patients with autoimmune ILD). Would have been yet another ho hum trial if not for the big reveal... have a listen to find out!

Article: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2503643

 

E127: TNFs and All That CHF

Another episode looking into safety this week! Tackling that pesky issue of TNFs and CHF. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter and check out the papers below! 

 

Newsletter: https://sprw.io/stt-ee87b4

ATTACH: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12796126/

RENEWAL: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.cir.0000124490.27666.b2

Observational Studies: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23155221/

 

E126: Risk Signals, JAKs, and SELECTIVE-ity

Covering an interesting but ultimately disappointing post hoc study of multiple upadacitinib trials in RA. Initially some hope for clarity in the "Do JAKs cause all the badness?" questions, but ultimately landing me about where I have been since ORAL-SURVEILLANCE was published

Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003496724423091

 

E125: Adrenal Insufficiency after Stopping Prednisone

Interesting read this week - I cover a nifty little paper that presented data about adrenal insufficiency after stopping prednisolone, published in JAMA Open in March 2025.  

 

Open Access Journal Here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2831668

e124: MTX vs Pred for Pulmonary Sarcoidosis: PREDMETH Study

Interesting NEJM trial this week comparing methotrexate to prednisone for pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Paper available here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2501443 

E123: Upadacitinib for Giant Cell Arteritis: SELECT-GCA

Podcast this week about the recently published SELECT-GCA study, which evaluated the use of the janus kinase inhibitor upadacitinib (Rinvoq) for patients with new and relapsing GCA. Successful trial and an interesting topic. Paper itself here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2413449

E122: Guidelines for Maybe Diagnosing HLH

This week I cover another of my newsletters, though I mostly use it as a skeleton to riff on a common (and challenging) issue for rheumatology consultants; diagnosing HLH. Check out the guidelines themselves here and have a listen to the podcast! 

 

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanrhe/article/PIIS2665-9913(23)00273-4/fulltext