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Key Opinion Leaders Manal Abdelmalek, Naim Alkhouri, Scott Isaacs and Zobair Younossi join Roger Green to discuss the FDA's approval of semaglutide for patients with non-cirrhotic MASH. This conversation focuses on how the US healthcare system must adapt to handle the growing number of MASH and MASLD patients who might seek treatment, given likely increases in publicity and education.

The conversation starts with a focus on the implications of semaglutide approval for hepatologists. Naim states that many hepatologists are currently uncomfortable managing patients on GLP-1 agonists. This will need to change. Manal points out that providers must check for cirrhosis when testing for MASH and understand how to respond accordingly. An increase in the number of providers having access to in-office scanning devices will facilitate this process.

Zobair shifts to a larger point:  even if all related specialists integrate MASH into their practices, the actual patient care demand will require alternative pathways in which the responsibility for patient care will rest with specialist APPs. The number of APPs necessary to handle this load and trained to do so does not currently exist in the US. Increased APP training must, and will, become an area for increased investment and focus.

After Naim Alkhouri describes some of the differences between resmetirom and semaglutide in terms of practical treatment decisions, the discussion focuses on why MASLD and MASH will create unique challenges for hepatology practices. Manal views the issue as a matter of time; practices cannot absorb large numbers of new, non-urgent patients. Naim suggests that the real issue is the business question: specialists today do not profit simply from treating patients. Zobair agrees with Naim and notes that the challenge is not unique to hepatology. He expresses the hope that AI and efficient database management will make it easier to target, screen, diagnose and treat patients...given sufficient providers (mostly APPs) to treat them.