Could hepatitis B finally have a finite treatment option? Tatyana Kushner, MD, joins hosts Nancy Reau, MD, and Kimberly Brown, MD, to break down the phase 3 B-Well data for bepirovirsen, the first agent to hit functional cure as a primary endpoint in chronic hepatitis B.

The conversation covers the phase 3 B-Well 1 and B-Well 2 results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at EASL 2026, and why quantitative HBsAg testing is becoming essential to patient selection ahead of a potential approval. Kushner, Reau, and Brown also work through what functional cure actually means for patients, how it compares to spontaneous HBsAg loss, and what dosing and monitoring are likely to look like given signals for ALT elevation and renal effects seen in the trials. They discuss which patients are unlikely to be candidates, including those with cirrhosis or decompensated liver disease, and close with a look at what an approval could mean for hepatitis B screening rates and referral patterns between primary care and specialty hepatology.

Bepirovirsen is not yet FDA approved. The FDA has accepted the New Drug Application for priority review, with a PDUFA goal date of October 26, 2026.

For more: https://www.hcplive.com/view/liver-lineup-bepirovirsen-and-the-push-toward-functional-cure-in-hepatitis-b

In this episode of Liver Lineup: Updates and Unfiltered Insights, hosts Kimberly Brown, MD (Henry Ford Hospital), and Nancy Reau, MD (Rush University Medical Center), are joined by Tatyana Kushner, MD (Weill Cornell Medicine), to discuss hepatitis delta virus (HDV).

Topics covered:
Why fewer than 10% of HBsAg-positive patients have ever been tested for HDV — and why that needs to change
The diagnostic cascade from HDV antibody to HDV RNA, and barriers to reflex testing implementation
The recent FDA approval of bulevirtide (Livdelzi) for chronic HDV infection, including dosing, administration, and the combination vs. monotherapy question
10 mg vs. 2 mg dose considerations and off-treatment response data
Phase 3 pipeline

For more: https://www.hcplive.com/view/liver-lineup-hdv-diagnosis-bulevirtide-and-the-delta-pipeline

In this episode of Joint Ventures, host Rihards Buss, MD, consultant rheumatologist, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, sits down with Sarah Dyball, MBBS, PhD, academic clinical lecturer, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, University of Manchester, and Kate Harnden, MBChB, Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Leeds, at the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) 2026 annual congress in London.

Click here to watch the episode.

The therapeutic framework for systemic sclerosis is undergoing a fundamental reorientation, moving away from managing visible fibrotic sequelae toward targeting the autoantibody-driven mechanisms believed to initiate and propagate disease.

On a recent episode of Joint Ventures recorded live at the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) 2026 Congress in London, host Jack Arnold, MBBS, PhD, of the University of Leeds, spoke with Vishal Kakkar, MD, also of the University of Leeds and a specialist in scleroderma, about the most consequential data emerging from the congress.

Click here to watch the episode.

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?