New research presented at EULAR 2026 shows that Steroids and Me (Sam) has grown tenfold since EULAR 2025. With 38,873 users by the end of April 2026, the platform's trajectory reveals the scale of unmet patient need around steroid-toxicity education.
As of EULAR 2025, Sam had attracted just over 4,000 users. By the time of ACR Convergence 2025, five months later, the figure had already tripled to 12,759. By the end of April 2026, it stood at 38,873.
New visitors arrive at an average rate of 1,000 per week, primarily driven by organic search and supported by patient advocacy partnerships. Sam now ranks #1 on Google for 350 steroid-related terms and sits in the top 10 for a further 900, which underscores the relevance of Sam's educational content. This is not passive traffic. Each learner spends an average of 13 minutes on Sam. Google search alone drives 70% of new arrivals, indicating that patients are actively seeking answers about life on steroids and are finding them on Sam.
Adherence anxiety dominates the patient agenda
This article tells the story: "Oops... I missed my steroid dose again". "Oops…" has been viewed 12,930 times, making it the most-read piece on the platform by a wide margin. Adherence anxiety and concerns about coping with daily life on steroids drive the learning journey to Sam. These are not abstract issues. They are the everyday realities for patients on steroids, and they often go unrecognized in the clinic.
Registered users go deeper
The behavioral signal sharpens once visitors register. Registered users spend 48 times longer on Sam than casual visitors, returning repeatedly to content on shared decision-making, tapering, and managing side effects. The top-read article among registered users is "How to talk to your doctor about steroids", followed by "Taking an active role in your steroid journey with shared decision-making" and "Why we taper".
The pattern is consistent: patients who engage with Sam want to be better partners in their own care. They are actively preparing to engage in clinical conversations.
What it means for clinicians and industry
For practicing clinicians, the data show that these patients are arriving at the clinic better informed about steroid-toxicity than ever before. For pharmaceutical companies developing steroid-sparing therapies, Sam's engagement profile points to a receptive, motivated audience actively seeking alternatives.
Sam's growth confirms the broader thesis: steroid-toxicity is not a clinical abstraction. It is a daily concern for hundreds of thousands of patients, and demand for trusted education is rising in step with awareness.
Access the full poster
The EULAR 2026 poster contains the full engagement dataset, age distribution, top-read articles by user type, and methodological details on Sam's development, validation, and partnership strategy.
Reference
- Stone M, Petri M, Kaminishi K, Papliodis G, McDowell J, Cotton C, Ansari H, Marinaro M, Gelfand J, Stone JH. Steroids and Me (Sam): Development and Validation of a Patient-Centered Digital Platform for Glucocorticoid Education and Shared Decision-Making. EULAR 2026, London, poster POS1388-PARE.