The “holy grail” in the quest to identify and validate new biomarkers, said Jill Buyon, MD, is the hope that biomarkers will aid the clinician in managing the patient, help to sort out phenotypic heterogeneity, inform about pathogenesis, and provide targets for therapy to achieve “biomarker coverage.”

Researchers and clinicians alike get increasingly excited as science advances and the dream of personalized — and more effective — medicine draws closer to reality. But personalized medicine has ethical considerations and unintended consequences to address.

Patients are turning to cannabis for a variety of uses, especially chronic pain, and report having positive effects from the use. But the clinical evidence available is a “mish-mash of studies,” said Mary-Ann Fitzcharles, MD.

A national physician survey found that bureaucratic tasks such as paperwork contributed the most to burnout. That same survey also showed rheumatologists are almost at the bottom of the list of physicians likely to seek help, at 16%.

The team of Jean W. Liew, MD, and Joanna Marco, MD, along with consultant Grant Hughes, MD, from the University of Washington held off the Elbow-Knee team from Albany Medical Center and Joint Service Joint Service from Walter Reed National Medical Military Center.

The new guidelines include both “strong” recommendations, which are generally supported by moderate or high-quality evidence, and “conditional” recommendations, which are generally supported by lower-quality evidence.

Although lupus survival has improved throughout the years, presenters in the Monday session Lupus Treatment: B Cells, Interferon & More emphasized that a serious need remains for new treatments and better trial designs.

Showcasing cutting-edge rheumatology research from around the world, six of the top abstracts submitted for this year’s Annual Meeting were presented during Monday’s Plenary II session.

The FDA approved the first treatment for pediatric patients with lupus, among other products and drugs for new indications and populations, and made several important safety updates in 2019, which were reviewed during an Annual Meeting session on Monday.

It’s a time of exciting new treatment discoveries and improved patient outcomes, but it should come as no surprise to rheumatologists that adult rheumatology workforce projections look grim.