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This month, Surfing NASH embarks on a series of episodes dedicated to takeaways emerging from June's two major conferences: the 2023 EASL Congress in Vienna and the American Diabetes Association's 83rd Scientific Sessions meeting in San Diego. In doing so, the Big Band of Surfers (Stephen Harrison, Jörn Schattenberg, Louise Campbell and Roger Green) are joined by Mazen Noureddin for a fascinating conversation which covers compelling data and ideas emerging from the drug development space.

This final conversation covers a range of topics. Jörn starts off with comments around the importance of safety as well as some thoughts about dosing strategy relative to safety and initial tolerability. Stephen picks up on this issue before moving on to consider whether the drugs discussed have an impact on cravings for alcohol and might be successful in a broader set of patients. He then goes on to identify two concerns for the agent class: suicidal ideation and possible amounts of lean muscle loss, both of which need to be for further. Jörn notes that lean muscle loss might be particularly critical in the study of patients with cirrhosis who are frail to begin with. Stephen continues by discussing a review of the frequency of lean muscle loss for GLP-1s, suggesting a 20 to 50% loss in many cases. Finally, Louise comments on the possible psychological effects of this weight loss. All this leads to Roger's final question which asks what have we learned in the last month that might affect research or conceptual thinking going forward? The topics each panelists chooses vary largely, but the concepts and all the thoughts around them are stimulating and worth a listen.

Each conversation covers a lot of ground on drug development, analysis of trial results, and the upcoming increases in importance of omics and artificial intelligence. If you have questions or comments around the EASL Congress or ADA meetings, or the themes and data discussed in this episode, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download the discourse. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at [email protected].

Stay Safe and Surf On