Best Mtx Podcasts (2026)

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E130: Telitacicept for SLE 13:06

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14d ago13:06

13:06

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/NEJMoa2414719By Michael Putman

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E129: Long Term Routine Laboratory Monitoring in RA 15:17

1M ago15:17

15:17

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/40…

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E128: Nerandomilast for Autoimmune ILD (FIBRONEER-ILD) 19:03

2M ago19:03

19:03

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/N…

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E127: TNFs and All That CHF 21:46

4M ago21:46

21:46

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: ht…

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E126: Risk Signals, JAKs, and SELECTIVE-ity 14:34

4M ago14:34

14:34

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/S00034967244230…

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E125: Adrenal Insufficiency after Stopping Prednisone 17:52

7M ago17:52

17:52

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/2831668By Michael Putman

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e124: MTX vs Pred for Pulmonary Sarcoidosis: PREDMETH Study 14:18

7M ago14:18

14:18

Interesting NEJM trial this week comparing methotrexate to prednisone for pulmonary sarcoidosis. Paper available here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2501443By Michael Putman

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E123: Upadacitinib for Giant Cell Arteritis: SELECT-GCA 18:13

9M ago18:13

18:13

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/NEJMoa2413449By Michael Putman

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E122: Guidelines for Maybe Diagnosing HLH 11:18

9M ago11:18

11:18

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…

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E121: Obinutuzumab in SLE-LN 18:14

9M ago18:14

18:14

Another day, another b cell podcast. Seems to be all the rage! This week I discuss the recently published NEJM trial of the anti CD20 agent obinutuzumab in lupus nephritis. Worth a read and listen, paper can be found here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2410965By Michael Putman

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E120: Real Life Use of PEXIVAS-Low 24:33

10M ago24:33

24:33

What do you do when observational data and RCTs conflict? This week I'm covering the "real world PEXIVAS" study that was done by the French Vasculitis Study Group. Great read, interesting issues, have a listen and be sure to share with friends!By Michael Putman

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E119: Teclistamab for Rheumatology Writ Large 10:52

11M ago10:52

10:52

One of my rare case-report podcasts, a topic that I typically avoid. The craze about CAR-T has also made me a little crazy, though, so I wanted to share what I think may be the ultimate destination for "more B cell depletion than rituximab" strategies. Article: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2407150…

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E118: The emerging risk of overdiagnosis in RA and PMR 16:02

12M ago16:02

16:02

Podcast this week about overdiagnosis! Currently one of my favorite topics and something that I think will be an emerging issue in our field. We recently published a Viewpoint in Lancet Rheumatology (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39341221/) addressing this issue. I'm going to read from it and after that will be giving a few final (spicy) thoughts…

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E117: Inebilizumab for IgG4-RD (MITIGATE) 12:55

1y ago12:55

12:55

New RCT in a new disease with a new drug! But is it as shiny as one would hope? Interesting discussion today about what a trial means, how it will affect practice, and how we could do better as a field. Happy holidays everyone!By Michael Putman

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E116: A New Paradigm for PMR 9:29

1y ago9:29

9:29

Reading one of my recent newsletters this week, this one about PMR tapers. Be sure to subscribe at ebrheum.com if you want access to the visuals and upcoming editions!By Michael Putman

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E115: Benralizumab for EGPA - the MANDARA Study 9:52

1y ago9:52

9:52

Quick rundown of an important rheumatology RCT this week, discussing the IL-5 inhibitor benralizumab for the treatment of relapsing/refractory EGPA. MANDARA Study: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2311155By Michael Putman

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E114: Target Trials and STAR-RA with Rishi Desai 31:15

1y ago31:15

31:15

Important methodology podcast this week, covering a lot of ground with expert epidemiologist Rishi Desai. Really enjoyed our conversation and glad to be publishing today! **House Keeping Note: we actually recorded this ~15 months ago but I somehow lost the audio... which somehow re-appeared! #technology STAR-RA: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3502…

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E113: CAR-T is Coming to Rheumatology 14:04

1+ y ago14:04

14:04

Exciting podcast this week about the upcoming / impending use of CAR-T in rheumatology. Highly recommend rheumatologists learn about this now; it's going to be a big thing for many years to come. In a future episode I will lay out my case for skepticism, but for now I think a good run down of the first big published series will be enough! NEJM CAR-…

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E112: Gabapentin is Trash 6:07

1+ y ago6:07

6:07

This week's podcast will be a quick read of one of my newsletters. The title basically speaks for itself! Find the newsletter and my other work at ebrheum.comBy Michael Putman

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E111: PEXIVAS Subsets with Mike Walsh & Mats Junek 39:27

2y ago39:27

39:27

At ACR23 I had a twitter-disagreement about steroid tapers from PEXIVAS with Mike Walsh, the lead author on the PEXIVAS trial. He kindly agreed to join me for a moderated discussion. Loved hearing his perspective and have to admit he pulled me closer to his practice... but not all the way there. Longer podcast than usual but I prefer to release aud…

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E110: Rheum4Debate - Screening for RA-ILD with Joshua Solomon and Scott Matson 24:19

2y ago24:19

24:19

Rheum4Debate is back! In this episode I moderated a debate between two pulmonologists about RA-ILD. As a reminder, Rheum4Debate is an Oxford-style debate show, where two debators disagree over a motion during 3 rounds of discussion. The motion for todays show was: “Asymptomatic patients with rheumatoid arthritis and high risk features for interstit…

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E109: Abatacept for Pre-RA - the ARIAA Study 16:22

2y ago16:22

16:22

Nice study this week on an important topic. Can we prevent the development of rheumatoid arthritis by initiating DMARDs during a preclinical phase? Lots to discuss: what does it mean to be "pre-clinical?" How does this fit with other studies of this nature? Check it out! https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02650-8/ful…

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E108: Myositis Guidelines for Cancer Screening w/Alexander Oldroyd 16:04

2y ago16:04

16:04

Informative podcast this week with Dr. Alexander Oldroyd, the first author of the recently published "International Guideline for Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy-Associated Cancer Screening." The article itself appeared in Nature Reviews Rheumatology and provides what I think is a very useful framework for approaching this issue. Article: https://…

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E107: Fragility of SLE Randomized Controlled Trials 13:17

2y ago13:17

13:17

Quick methodology episode this week discussing the concept of "fragility" in randomized controlled trials of lupus. Really enjoyed discussing this paper and was grateful to have been a part of it. Get the text here: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/lupusscimed/11/1/e001068.full.pdfBy Michael Putman

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E106: GCA/PMR with Bhaskar Dasgupta 28:28

2y ago28:28

28:28

Today I'm taking another twitter discussion into the podcast realm! Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta has published hundreds of papers about polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis, including a recent publication in Nature Reviews: Rheumatology that piqued my interest (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41584-023-00976-8). In this podcast we discuss scree…

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E105: Autoimmunity Post COVID-19? 17:41

2y ago17:41

17:41

Interesting topic and interesting paper this year, including discussion of observational biases, positive and negative controls, and interpreting data as it comes. Paper: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2810259By Michael Putman

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E104: Sarilumab for PMR - The SAPHYR Study 18:35

2y ago18:35

18:35

Important trial on the podcast this week! I take a deep dive into the recently published SAPHYR study, which evaluated the use of the IL6 inhibitor sarilumab for patients with PMR. A few aggravating quibbles but overall a very useful trial and an important step forward for patients with PMR. Article: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2303…

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E103: Len Calabrese on Monoclonal Antibodies for COVID-19 22:25

2y ago22:25

22:25

This week I took a twitter disagreement from the impersonal world of twitter to the podcast world of a back and forth conversation. Really enjoyed talking to Dr. Len Calabrese about monoclonal antibodies, FDA regulatory pathways, and life in general.By Michael Putman

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E102: Unintentional Unblinding in Rheumatic Disease Trials 11:31

2y ago11:31

11:31

Excited to share an editorial that I wrote along with Cody Bruggemeyer and Desh Nepal, two trainees with me at the Medical College of Wisconsin. We discussed what I believe to be a pervasive (but seldom discussed) issue in rheumatology RCTs: unblinding. I suspect many of our studies suffer from this. Have a listen!…

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E101: Pred v Colchicine for CPPD: COLCHICORT 10:49

2+ y ago10:49

10:49

Happy to share the FIRST randomized trial in CPPD today. It's kind of a weird study but worth a quick discussion. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665991323001650By Michael Putman

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E100: ADVOCATE Health Related Quality of Life 15:35

2+ y ago15:35

15:35

This week I dive into the health related quality of life measures that were reported in the ADVOCATE study. I found them overall somewhat convincing and they have affected my practice. Have a listen and be sure to follow along. Find my work at ebrheum.comBy Michael Putman

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E99: Hospital Problems 7:29

2+ y ago7:29

7:29

Quick episode this week from a recent Perspective piece I had published in the New England Journal. Have a listen or a read! https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2304828By Michael Putman

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E98: Key Opinion Leaders & ILD Guidelines 10:29

2+ y ago10:29

10:29

Podcast this week discussing key opinion leaders (KOLs) and pharmaceutical companies. Please subscribe to my newsletter (ebrheum.com) and be sure to share the podcast with friends!By Michael Putman

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E97: Does allopurinol reduce CVD? The ALLHEART Study 10:07

2+ y ago10:07

10:07

Nice quick RCT rundown this week, covering the ALLHEART study, a pragmatic RCT of urate lowering therapy to reduce cardiovascular disease. Quick listen for a useful teaching point! https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01657-9/fulltextBy Michael Putman

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E96: Long COVID - Where to After Norway? 19:38

2+ y ago19:38

19:38

Today I cover the recently published long-COVID study from Norway. It's a great paper that challenges much of the prevailing wisdom. I think there are some interesting limitations, but anyone who sees post COVID patients (aka all of us) would do well to read it. Or have a listen here! PDF: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticl…

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E95: Rituximab or Cyclophosphamide in ANCA Vasculitis 20:46

3y ago20:46

20:46

Fun study this week from JAMA Network Open and the French Vasculitis Study Group. They used a target trial emulation (one of my favorites) to ask whether RTX > CYC in AAV (another one of my favorites). I tried to use this to compare between observational and randomized data. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2799018…

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E94: Steroids and Psoriasis Flares 7:48

3y ago7:48

7:48

This week I hope to debunk one of rheumatology's "paradoxes." We love to talk about these and subject our fellows to memorizing them for the boards. We often use them to guide clinical practice, but I suspect that many "paradoxes" are actually the result of shoddy epidemiology. Todays' paper from JAMA dermatology covers one that I have heard freque…

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E93: Azathioprine is the Worst 7:00

3y ago7:00

7:00

Today I'll be reading one of my recent newsletters! It's kind of a fun run-down of my anti-azathioprine stance. As I say in the piece, some patients may benefit from azathioprine and I am not saying it is an entirely useless drug or that nobody should ever prescribe it. Rather, I am just saying that it is likely the worst option for nearly every in…

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E92: Are muscle symptoms from statins imaginary? 10:36

3y ago10:36

10:36

Today I review a recent large meta analysis of randomized controlled trials of statin use. Super interesting findings that have changed my clinical practice. Check out the paper here and listen to the episode! Paper: https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(22)01545-8/fulltext "Internet driven cult" editorial: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28…

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E91: Clinical Innovation in Rheumatology: Past, Present, and Future 19:56

3y ago19:56

19:56

Change of pace today! I interviewed Jason Liebowitz and Phil Seo about their new book entitled "Clinical Innovation in Rheumatology: Past, Present, and Future." I thoroughly enjoyed the book and had a great time interviewing them about some of their "futuristic" topics. Grab the book (or better yet, have your division get some copies) at the link b…

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E90: There Is No Diagnosis of Exclusion in Rheumatology 6:45

3y ago6:45

6:45

Quick episode this week to share an editorial I recently wrote with Jay Patel and Anisha Dua. We cover one of my least phrases in medicine, the "diagnosis of exclusion." Hope you enjoy! Find the original paper here: https://academic.oup.com/rheumatology/advance-article/doi/10.1093/rheumatology/keac278/6584804…

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E89: Vitamin D to Prevent Osteoporotic Fractures 11:02

3y ago11:02

11:02

Exciting (negative) results from a large RCT on the podcast this week as well as a (mini) rant about how we should be spending our time as rheumatologists and the false security of ineffective treatments. Let me know what you think on twitter @ebhruem https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2202106…

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E88: HCQ Dose Reductions and SLE Flares 10:04

3y ago10:04

10:04

Interesting case-crossover study today evaluating the association between HCQ dosing and risk of SLE flares. Super worth your time to read the paper or listen to this episode! https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2796634By Michael Putman

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E87: IVIG for Dermatomyositis 17:52

3y ago17:52

17:52

Podcast is back! This week I discuss a pivotal RCT in dermatomyositis. Check it out and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter at ebrheum.com!By Michael Putman

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E86: Target Trials and Causality in Rheumatology 16:06

3+ y ago16:06

16:06

Mixing it up again this week to discuss an editorial by Miguel Hernan and a systematic review of target trials in rheumatology. It's kind of a fun free-form stream of consciousness. Hope you enjoy! Links: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5888052/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32381560/By Michael Putman

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E85: Challenging Wisely 7:58

3+ y ago7:58

7:58

Quick episode today. I wanted to share an editorial that was recently published in Rheumatology, where I and co-authors (Shannon Tai and Natalie Anumolu) discuss lessons from recent trials in AAV and SLE. Link to editorial: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35438142/By Michael Putman

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E84: The JAKapocalypse (AKA ORAL Surveillance) 12:24

3+ y ago12:24

12:24

After some delay, I finally get around to discussing ORAL-Surveillance, a post-marketing safety study of tofacitinib for rheumatoid arthritis. It's an incredibly important trial that will likely affect how all of us practice for the foreseeable future. Link to paper: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2109927…

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E83: Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines 19:00

3+ y ago19:00

19:00

After a winter hiatus, the podcast is back! Today I wanted to dive into a 'hotbutton' issue - the question of whether (or not) COVID-19 vaccines "work" for patients with rheumatic diseases. My answer is an emphatic "yes," albeit with a few caveats. Here are the papers I discuss: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanrhe/article/PIIS2665-9913(22)000…

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E82: LoVAS Trial for ANCA Vasculitis 15:17

4y ago15:17

15:17

Hello again! Snappy episode this week about the exciting LoVAS trial, which compared a reduced dose steroid taper for ANCA vasculitis. Be sure to drop by my website at ebrheum.com to subscribe to my newsletter!By Michael Putman

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E81: Vasculitis Guidelines E7: Takayasu Arteritis with Dr. Andy Abril 21:24

4+ y ago21:24

21:24

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Andy Abril, Chair at the Division of Rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Florida. Dr. Abril is one of the lead authors for the 2021 ACR Guidelines on Takayasu’s arteritis. This project was done in partnership with the Vasculitis Foundation. To review the complete guidelines, visit https://dev.vasculitisf…