The Pituitary World News Podcast

In this episode, Dr. Mario Maldonado from Recordati Rare Diseases discusses recent advances in endocrinology, focusing on hypercortisolism, diagnostic challenges, and innovative treatments. He shares insights from clinical studies and the future of AI in disease management.  We touched on the important of the increased awareness awareness of milder hypercortisolism forms,  the challenges in diagnosing subtle endocrine disorders and the critical impact of AI on data analysis and patient identification. 

Note form the editors: If you found this helpful, share it with friends, family, and your care team.  Awareness is how these conditions get caught earlier, and how patients improve their chances of fewer years of missed diagnoses. Sometimes it starts with a single question asked at the right time.

Pituitary World News and Adrenal World News are patient-focused nonprofit publications dedicated to putting rare pituitary and adrenal diseases on the radar. To stay connected, subscribe to PWN and AWN and follow The Pituitary Podcast and our social media feeds. And if you believe in this mission, please consider donating.  Your support keeps our reporting independent, our resources free, and our microphones open to the researchers and clinicians working to change patients' lives. Together, we can make these diseases better known.

In this episode, we talk about what newly diagnosed patients are going through, the challenges that can overwhelm even the most centered person, the potential isolation, and how hard it can be to find good information even when it's out there. We get into something we care a lot about: the gap between all the great medical research on acromegaly and the practical, everyday guidance patients many times need: how to exercise, how to eat, how to live. Risa shares about the grief of letting go of the athlete she used to be, and how mindfulness helped her find her way back to a fuller life. We focused on things like nutrition, exercise, mental health support, identity grief, learning how to switch your brain to the ‘Off” position with mindfulness, and all the help needed to rebuild a fuller life.

In the final episode, Professor Maria Fleseriu and Professor Mônica Gadelha discuss the updated treatment algorithm, treatment sequencing, and management approaches for patients with resistant disease.

This educational podcast series is intended for US healthcare professionals only. It was developed by expert faculty in collaboration with The Pituitary Society and Amiculum, with support from Recordati Rare Diseases through an independent educational grant. Recordati Rare Diseases had no involvement in content development, speaker selection, or editorial decisions. Discussions in this series are informed by the 2025 consensus on therapeutic outcomes in acromegaly (Melmed S et al. Nat Rev Endocrinol 2025;21:718–37).

Speaker disclosures:

Maria Fleseriu (Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, USA) Research grants to her university from Crinetics Pharmaceuticals and Debio.Scientific consulting fees from Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Camurus AB, Marea and Recordati Rare Diseases.

Mônica Gadelha (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Advisory board member for Camurus AB, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk and Recordati Rare Diseases. Research investigator for Crinetics Pharmaceuticals and Recordati Rare Diseases. Speaker for Camurus AB, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk and Recordati Rare Diseases.

Professor Maria Fleseriu and Professor Mark Gurnell focus on predictors of response to medical therapy, including the role of imaging characteristics, pathological and molecular markers, and biochemical parameters in guiding treatment decisions to support individualized patient care.

This educational podcast series is intended for US healthcare professionals only. It was developed by expert faculty in collaboration with The Pituitary Society and Amiculum, with support from Recordati Rare Diseases through an independent educational grant. Recordati Rare Diseases had no involvement in content development, speaker selection, or editorial decisions. Discussions in this series are informed by the 2025 consensus on therapeutic outcomes in acromegaly (Melmed S et al. Nat Rev Endocrinol 2025;21:718–37).

Speaker disclosures:

Maria Fleseriu (Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, USA). Research grants to her university from Crinetics Pharmaceuticals and Debio. Scientific consulting fees from Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Camurus AB, Marea and Recordati Rare Diseases.

In this episode, Professor Maria Fleseriu and Professor Shlomo Melmed discuss the development of the consensus recommendations and explore how remission and disease control should be defined and assessed in clinical practice. They also highlight the importance of identifying and managing comorbidities, a key focus of the updated recommendations.

This educational podcast series is intended for US healthcare professionals only. It was developed by expert faculty in collaboration with The Pituitary Society and Amiculum, with support from Recordati Rare Diseases through an independent educational grant. Recordati Rare Diseases had no involvement in content development, speaker selection, or editorial decisions. Discussions in this series are informed by the 2025 consensus on therapeutic outcomes in acromegaly (Melmed S et al. Nat Rev Endocrinol 2025;21:718–37).

Speaker disclosures:

Maria Fleseriu (Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, USA). Research grants to her university from Crinetics Pharmaceuticals and Debio. Scientific consulting fees from Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Camurus AB, Marea and Recordati Rare Diseases.

Shlomo Melmed (Cedars-Sinai Pituitary Center, Los Angeles, USA). Consulting honoraria and speaker fees from Camurus AB, Marea Therapeutics, Novo Nordisk and Recordati Rare Diseases.

In today’s LIVE-TALK podcast, we chat about our recently published series of books.  We highlight Dr. Blevins’ prolific writing output in the PWN self-published book series, with five titles on pituitary adenomas, diabetes insipidus, Cushing’s, hypopituitarism, and pituitary disorders; a TSH-producing tumor book (in editing); a prolactinoma volume heading to the publisher; and an acromegaly book planned.

Our live talk sessions of the pituitary and adrenal podcasts continue with this extremely informational conversation on hypothalamic obesity.  If you are interested in learning more about his devastating disorder, please listen to Dr. Blevins as he shares his insights and extensive expertise on its causes, new treatments, and latest developments.   He explains the underlying biology: fat cells produce leptin, which signals the hypothalamus to regulate appetite, metabolic rate, and activity level. When the hypothalamus is damaged, that signal fails, and patients feel constantly starving, their metabolism slows, activity drops, and severe weight gain follows.

In today's podcast, we talk to Anne Vaslin Chessex,  Global Program Leader at  Debiopharm International. In this dynamic chat, we explore Debiopharm's innovative three-month formulation of Octreotide for acromegaly, highlighting the science, clinical trials, and patient benefits. Gain insights into drug development, patient-centered approaches, future treatment options, and learn how to participate in the clinical trial. Dr. Vaslin Chessex has a PhD in Neurosciences and currently oversees the global strategy for drug development programs in rare diseases.  This is a fascinating talk about the science and expertise behind long-acting formulations, patient needs in acromegaly, treatment challenges, and the specifics on the clinical trial design, sites, and recruitment.