Medical Industry Feature

Dr. Howard Fine, a neuro-oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, discusses how a new approach to glioblastoma research may expand treatment options and advance precision oncology. His preclinical model, GLICO, uses cerebral organoids, or mini brains, to create a more accurate representation of glioblastoma tumor biology. Through an advanced, high-throughput drug-screening system that Dr. Fine and his team developed, they can screen hundreds of GLICOs against various drug regimens to identify personalized glioblastoma therapies—with the ultimate goal of extending patient survival for one of the most lethal cancers.

© 2026 NewYork-Presbyterian

What do large registry data reveal about outcomes after intraocular foreign body removal, and how should those findings shape surgical planning and patient counseling? In this episode of New Retina Radio Journal Club with VBS, Jordan Deaner, MD, moderates a discussion with Vaidehi Dedania, MD, and Rehan Hussain, MD, on a 2025 IRIS Registry analysis of nearly 4,800 eyes. The group reviews the delayed timeline of visual recovery, the risk of late complications, and practical guidance on staging surgical intervention and setting realistic expectations in complex trauma cases.

Does socioeconomic status influence outcomes in proliferative sickle retinopathy? In this episode of Clinical Minute: Retina, host Maria Berrocal, MD, speaks with Audina "Nina" Berrocal, MD, of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, who published a retrospective review of more than 100 patients with proliferative sickle retinopathy. They explore whether the integrated care model at Bascom Palmer may account for results that don't translate to other parts of the country. The conversation also touches on newborn screening programs in Florida and the importance of sickle cell centers in high-incidence communities.

The SOL-1 Phase 3 superiority trial compared the efficacy and safety of the investigational product OTX-TKI (axitinib intravitreal hydrogel) with aflibercept 2 mg. The primary endpoint was proportion of subjects who maintained visual acuity, defined as <15 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters of best-corrected visual acuity loss from baseline at Week 36. Based on the findings, SOL-1 met its primary endpoint and demonstrated a statistically significant high proportion of subjects maintained visual acuity with OTX-TKI vs. aflibercept 2 mg at Week 36. OTX-TKI demonstrated stability in vision and anatomic outcomes through 36 weeks, with evidence of extended durability and delayed need for rescue therapy. This could contribute to the goal of maintaining disease control in wet AMD. OTX-TKI was generally well tolerated through Week 52. Ocular adverse events were reported in 52.9% of OTX-TKI-treated subjects vs. 33.7% of aflibercept-treated subjects. There were no treatment-related serious adverse events (SAEs) and no cases of retinal vasculitis. The most common AEs reported in OTX-TKI subjects were vitreous floaters (12.4%), cataract (7.1%) and conjunctival hemorrhage (6.5%).

To learn more about the SOL-1 trial design, findings, and implications for care, tune in to hear Dr. Priya Vakharia speak with Dr. Andrew Moshfeghi.

Reference:

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Neurological spine surgeon Dr. Ibrahim Hussain explains how expandable cages are being used in minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusions to optimize patient outcomes. These cages can be inserted with a very low profile to restore height and lordosis, and enable a faster recovery.

At Och Spine at NewYork-Presbyterian, surgeons are pursuing innovative solutions to provide a better quality of life for patients with degenerative disc disease and other spine conditions.

© 2026 NewYork-Presbyterian

Despite advances in the treatment of HR-positive HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, patients with PIK3CA-mutated disease who progress after a CDK4/6 inhibitor still face limited effective and tolerable treatment options.1 This unmet need has fueled interest in zovegalisib (formerly RLY-2608), a next generation, pan-mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor designed to spare wild-type protein and potentially reduce class-related toxicities.2 Dr. Sarah Sammons joins Dr. Charles Turck to review key findings from the first-in-human ReDiscover trial of zovegalisib + fulvestrant that supported initiation of the Phase 3 ReDiscover-2 study3,4, which is currently enrolling. They also discuss ReDiscover-2 eligibility criteria, along with patient selection and screening considerations, using hypothetical case scenarios. Dr. Sammons is the Associate Director of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.

References:

1. Mishra R, Patel H, Alanazi S, Kilroy MK, Garrett JT. PI3K inhibitors in cancer: clinical implications and adverse effects. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(7)doi:10.3390/ijms22073464
2. Varkaris A, Pazolli E, Gunaydin H, et al. Discovery and clinical proof-of-concept of RLY-2608, a first-in-class mutant-selective allosteric PI3Kα inhibitor that decouples antitumor activity from hyperinsulinemia. Cancer Discovery. 2024;14(2):240–257. doi:10.1158/2159-8290.cd-23-0944
3. ClinicalTrials.gov. NCT06982521. Accessed April 12, 2026. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06982521
4. Rugo HS, Saura C, Jhaveri K, et al. Poster PS5-08-25: …

On this episode of Advances in Care, host Erin Welsh is joined by Dr. Mirella Mourad, maternal-fetal medicine specialist at NewYork-Presbyterian and co-director of the Preterm Birth Prevention Center at Columbia, to explore a groundbreaking new technology aimed at improving the diagnosis and treatment of preterm birth.

Preterm birth impacts approximately 1 in 10 pregnancies in the United States, making it a leading cause of neonatal complications and long-term health challenges. But despite its prevalence and associated risks, innovative solutions to address the condition have lagged behind. To address this gap, Dr. Mourad and her collaborator, Dr. Kristin Meyers, a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia’s School of Engineering, are developing a new tool: a patient-specific “digital twin” of the cervix. This advanced technology has the potential to revolutionize obstetric care for patients by allowing clinicians to test new treatment methods, collect data to better understand why certain people are at risk for preterm birth, and overall, catalyze innovation in the historically under-researched field of maternal-fetal medicine, ultimately helping to drive better outcomes and successful pregnancies. Dr. Mourad also discusses how this digital twin can potentially assist with identifying women with placenta accreta spectrum disorder and inform more precise and …

Guiding patients and caregivers through the fast-moving landscape of digital therapeutics can be a challenging but worthwhile part of providing effective and accessible care. That’s why Dr. Charles Turck speaks with Dr. Maggie Emerson about how we can best partner with patients and caregivers around this relatively new treatment in mental health care. Dr. Emerson is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing in Omaha.

Our understanding of depression has evolved over the past several decades, leading us to some potential new treatment options that focus on neuroplasticity, chemical imbalance, and negative cognitive biases. Learn more about the history of depression treatment approaches and the emerging concept of neuroplasticity with Dr. Charles Turck and Dr. Joseph Goldberg, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

The brain is constantly changing as a result of experience, stress, emotional processing, learning, and memory.1 And neuroplasticity adds another layer to these approaches by focusing on what’s actually changing in the brain.2 Tune in with Dr. Charles Turck as he speaks with Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, Founding Director of the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care and Chief of the Division of Mood Disorders at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.

References:

1. Sanacora G, Treccani G, Popoli M. Towards a glutamate hypothesis of depression: an emerging frontier of neuropsychopharmacology for mood disorders. Neuropharmacology. 2012;62(1):63-77.
2. Mateos-Aparicio P, Rodriguez-Moreno A. The impact of studying brain plasticity. Front Cell Neurosci. 2019;13:66.