3–9 November: Keep up with the latest news and interviews from the conference.

Serum urate concentration is a valid surrogate endpoint for the reduction or absence of gout flares, suggest study findings presented at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting and published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

“These criteria have been endorsed by the ACR [American College of Rheumatology] and EULAR and are now ready for use to differentiate one type of vasculitis from another to define populations in research studies,” write Peter Merkel (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA) and colleagues.

People initiating the IL-12/23 inhibitor ustekinumab for active psoriatic arthritis achieve similar outcomes irrespective of whether the drug is given with or without methotrexate, show data presented at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting.

Phase 3 trial findings presented at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting suggest that adding a single cycle of rituximab to belimumab therapy does not improve disease control rates among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

In “The Great Debate” held at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting, experts discussed which new add-on treatment option should be used first for patients with active lupus nephritis despite conventional therapy.

Study findings presented at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting support the use of TNF inhibitor therapy in patients with HIV infection.

Tocilizumab improves glucocorticoid-free remission rates, time to first relapse, and cumulative glucocorticoid dose versus placebo in people with polymyalgia rheumatica, show phase 2/3 study data presented at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting.

Findings from two randomized controlled trials presented at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting suggest no significant benefits of treatment with the BAFF inhibitor belimumab or the heat shock response amplifier arimoclomol for patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy.

Treatment with the IL-23 inhibitor risankizumab may improve outcomes for patients with psoriatic arthritis, suggests an integrated analysis of data from the KEEPsAKE 1 and 2 studies presented at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting.

Neurologic and ocular manifestations are common among people with ANCA-associated vasculitis but vary by disease type, show data from the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium reported at the ACR Convergence 2021 virtual meeting.

ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract 0831) ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract 0958) ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract 1940) ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract 1684) ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract 1941)

ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract L16) ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract L04)

ACR 2021: Jürgen Rech discusses findings from the ARIAA trial of abatacept in people with preclinical arthritis.

ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November

ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract 1448) ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract 0815)

Del Galdo and team report that 254 participants completed the 5-year study of whom 52.4% progressed to meet the 2013 ACR–EULAR classification criteria for SSc.

ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract 1685) ACR Convergence 2021; 3–9 November (abstract 1686)