Surfing the MASH Tsunami

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Surfing NASH delivered a second wrap-up session on-site in Vienna as a part of its real-time coverage of a truly thought-provoking EASL Congress 2023. This conversation held after the Saturday late breakers features key opinion leaders Hannes Hagström and Michelle Long, entrepreneur and epigenetics advocate Rachel Zayas and patient advocates Jeff McIntyre and Michael Betel alongside host Roger Green.

This conversation starts with Roger asking each panelist to mention a poster or presentation that was particularly compelling or valuable. As befits the group, the panelist ultimately chose a wide range of topics. This includes thoughts around ways in which to evaluate NITs and deciding who and when to treat, data on the FGF-21 agent pegozafermin, the impact of RNA defects on disease and treatment and much more. As the conversation winds down, Roger suggests that there can be confusions around articifical intelligence (AI) as a term as it is applied to a myriad of technologies. 

For a variety of reasons, EASL Congress 2023 has been looked forward to by the liver community with arguably an unprecedented sense of excitement and intensity. The conversations resulting from the podcast’s two real-time reviews suggest that the actual event met or exceeded such high expectations. If you have any question or interests around EASL Congress, 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!

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Surfing NASH delivered a second wrap-up session on-site in Vienna as a part of its real-time coverage of a truly thought-provoking EASL Congress 2023. This conversation held after the Saturday late breakers features key opinion leaders Hannes Hagström and Michelle Long, entrepreneur and epigenetics advocate Rachel Zayas and patient advocates Jeff McIntyre and Michael Betel alongside host Roger Green. The discussion picks up on the topic of the announced MAESTRO-NASH Phase 3 results and the panelists' various reactions. This subject quickly beckons  questions around the scoring systems used to evaluate NASH and specifically some shortcomings within the NASH CRN system. The group also anticipates the role that resmetirom will play in both the short and long term and the implications of superior patient support in both arms of the randomized clinical trials and how well the drug will be perceived to work in the treating community.

For a variety of reasons, EASL Congress 2023 has been looked forward to by the liver community with arguably an unprecedented sense of excitement and intensity. The conversations resulting from the podcast’s two real-time reviews suggest that the actual event met or exceeded such high expectations. If you have any question or interests around EASL Congress, 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!

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Surfing NASH delivered an additional wrap-up session on-site in Vienna as a part of its real-time coverage of a truly thought-provoking EASL Congress 2023. This is the first of four conversations held after the Saturday late breakers with key opinion leaders Hannes Hagström and Michelle Long, entrepreneur and epigenetics advocate Rachel Zayas and patient advocates Jeff McIntyre and Michael Betel. Roger Green asks each panelist to share a word or short phrase that captures their feelings about the event. The answers from this session differ from those in response to the same question in the preceding episode 29, even from both Michael and Roger who are a part of both sessions. From here the group goes on to explore some implications of the new nomenclature rollout that occurred that morning. 

For a variety of reasons, EASL Congress 2023 has been looked forward to by the liver community with arguably an unprecedented sense of excitement and intensity. The conversations resulting from the podcast’s two real-time reviews suggest that the actual event met or exceeded such high expectations. If you have any question or interests around EASL Congress, 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!

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Surfing NASH offered on-site coverage of EASL Congress 2023 in two separate real-time reviews. This conversation features the final session exploring the first three days of the meeting with Ian Rowe, Michael Betel, Jörn Schattenberg and Roger Green. The focus of the group ranges from discussion around the FGF-21 agents efruxifermin and pegozafermin to the results of two major screening trials emerging from respected NAIL-NIT data. Finally, they discuss the broad rubric of AI and the many widely varying technologies that are currently described as utlizing AI. Roger’s closing question calls attention to a few additional major impressions from the event yet to be elaborated on in the preceding conversations. The panelist responses ranged from comments around the state of public health on Ukrainian frontlines, a different take on the NAIL-NIT presentation and lastly interest in the American Diabetes Association meeting taking place simultaneously in San Diego.

For a variety of reasons the entire community looks forward to this meeting with an unprecedented sense of intensity and excitement. These seven conversations suggest that the actual event met or exceeded such high expectations - listen on to learn how and why and stay tuned for Part 2 of this exclusive coverage. If you have any question or interests around EASL Congress, 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!

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Surfing NASH offered on-site coverage of EASL Congress 2023 in two separate real-time reviews. This conversation continues from the first session featuring Ian Rowe, Michael Betel, Jörn Schattenberg and Roger Green and their focus on the first three days of the meeting. The group begins by discussing the Friday afternoon session that Jörn co-chaired which investigates the challenges in screening patients for fatty liver diseases. One issue that surfaces is the dynamic tension around time that frontline treaters in the UK grapple with between conducting multi-stage sequential screening and supporting behavioral interventions adequately. It is suggested that they are concerned with not being able to deliver on both of these critical aims without compromise. The conversation shifts to focus on the Friday morning session on therapies which were described as the second wave of NASH drugs. This includes discussion around two dual agonists, efinopegdutide and pemvidutide, that could achieve what Ian describes as "huge reductions" in liver fat. The group goes on to touch on two other presentations from that session, one covering the impact of intermittent fasting on the liver versus standard calorie reduction, the other on reporting results on an RNA-based product.

For a variety of reasons the entire community looks forward to this meeting with an unprecedented sense of intensity and excitement. These seven conversations suggest that the actual event met or exceeded such high expectations - listen on to learn how and why and stay tuned for Part 2 of this exclusive coverage. If you have any question or interests around EASL Congress, 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!

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Surfing NASH offered on-site coverage of EASL Congress 2023 in two separate real-time reviews. This conversation comes from the first session featuring Ian Rowe, Michael Betel, Jörn Schattenberg and Roger Green. Roger begins by asking each panelist to share a word or short phrase that captured their impressions of the conference thus far. With varying adjectives, the group describes and elaborates how the meeting unfolds from their perspectives. From here they go on to discuss the impact of the opening General Session on Thursday and focus on Stephen Harrison’s presentation of the highly anticipated MAESTRO-NASH Phase 3 results.

For a variety of reasons, EASL Congress 2023 has been looked forward to by the liver community with arguably an unprecedented sense of excitement and intensity. The conversations resulting from the podcast’s two real-time reviews suggest that the actual event met or exceeded such high expectations. If you have any question or interests around EASL Congress, 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!

Send us Fan Mail

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Surfing NASH  delivers a session on-site in Vienna to offer a real-time review as EASL Congress 2023 unfolds. This first of two on-site recordings features Ian Rowe, Michael Betel, Jörn Schattenberg and Roger Green as the group digests takeaways from an energized meeting.  Some topics they touch on include Madrigal's MAESTRO-NASH clinical trial of resmetirom, notes around interesting emerging liver science,  the potential role of AI assistance, the NASH therapeutic landscape and many more milestones witnessed by the field since the days of Hep-C.

Listen on to learn more and stay tuned for a Part 2 of this exclusive coverage. If you have any question or interests around the event, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download the discourse. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at [email protected].

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For the first time in the 198-episode history of this podcast, Surfing NASH will not be hosting a discussion centered around NAFLD, NASH, steatotic liver disease or anything else connected to our title. Instead, we are sharing an incredibly moving story told at EASL Congress 2023 about the provision of health care in the war zones of Ukraine.

Roger Green had the opportunity at a press briefing to hear from Tetiana Deshko, Director of Programs for the Alliance for Public Health in Ukraine. Dr. Deshko shared her own experience with the challenges of providing health for patients in the midst of an invasion, particularly in occupied and battleground areas.

Think of this episode as a dramatically expanded  weekly business report, in which Roger discusses the situation in Ukraine. That discussion is general, political and aspirational. The conversation featured here on Season 4, Epsiode 28 with Ms. Deshko is more specific and focused on the realities that treaters in Ukraine face each day. Her description is powerful and provokes emotions that words cannot describe. You can support her vital public health work by making  donation to the Alliance for Public Health, one of the largest non-governmental organizations in Ukraine, (click this link to donate and read more about their important work).

This weekend Surfing NASH will resume its onsite coverage of EASL Congress 2023 with episodes dedicated to the outcome of the nomenclature process, late breakers and more. Stay tuned for more details. The world’s largest liver meeting takes place 21-24 June in Vienna with an international faculty of experts from over 200 institutions. The diverse program will feature 2500 abstracts and be a uniquely momentous occasion for developing multidisciplinary approaches aimed at putting a major dent in Fatty Liver disease.

If you have any question or interests around the event or Ms. Deshko's  experiences in Ukraine, 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! Перемагаймо разом!

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Surfing NASH serves yet another preview of a highly anticipated and upcoming EASL Congress in Vienna, this time focusing on a strong lineup of abstracts and engaging sessions. This final conversation comes in the form of a topical extra-sode which fits seamlessly into our ongoing event coverage. Surfing NASH has partnered with HistoIndex to produce a deep dive session into AI and pathology with Arun Sanyal and David Kleiner. This high-caliber, stimulating discussion will improve your nuanced understanding of the challenges in using ordinal manual histopathology in NASH clinical trials and how AI systems might ameliorate or minimize these challenges.

An aim of this discussion is to establish a backdrop for an episode later this year when a major clinical trial investigating these issues will be released. The conversation starts with an important and telling digression. Roger asks David, Senior Researcher at the National Cancer Institute and chief pathologist of the NASH CRN, how working on NASH compares to diseases like hepatitis C. David explains that disease and drug-related effects are far more complex in NASH than in hepatitis. He reasons that where hepatitis, a far more stable disease, only looks at fibrosis, NASH additionally considers steatosis and ballooning. Arun notes three benefits of AI: it can stabilize and standardize reads from the sample, it can provide information about the history of disease that a one time manual read cannot and it allows the researcher to layer in molecular and other tools to drive a far deeper understanding of underlying pathology. From here, the conversation focuses on the many benefits of AI assistance, including the value of improving measurement by creating continuous variable scoring, the ability to examine through multiple dimensions to determine what matters most and generally developing a richer, more nuanced understanding of liver health and disease.

Today’s episode is sponsored by HistoIndex, the first global company to provide stain-free, fully automated imaging solutions for visualizing and quantifying morphological and architectural features of fibrosis. HistoIndex couples breakthrough biophotonic technology with an AI-powered digital pathology system to provide consistent, high-throughput imaging in liver disease and cancer. The platform benefits clinical research and speeds development of drugs and diagnostics. For more information, visit www.histoindex.com.

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