Author Interviews, Diabetes, Kidney Disease, NYU/NYMC, Weight Research / 20.10.2025
NYU Study Finds GLP-1 Medications Associated with Clinically Meaningful Benefit in Dialysis Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_71025" align="alignleft" width="225"] Dr. Weintraub[/caption]
Michael A. Weintraub, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The study addresses a critical knowledge gap in diabetes
management for dialysis patients.
Of the 808,000 people on dialysis in the United States,
approximately 60% have diabetes and would be
eligible for GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs).
However, these medications have not been well-studied in this population because
dialysis dependence is frequently an exclusion criterion in clinical
trials.
Dr. Weintraub[/caption]
Michael A. Weintraub, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The study addresses a critical knowledge gap in diabetes
management for dialysis patients.
Of the 808,000 people on dialysis in the United States,
approximately 60% have diabetes and would be
eligible for GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs).
However, these medications have not been well-studied in this population because
dialysis dependence is frequently an exclusion criterion in clinical
trials.
Dr. Jiyoung Ahn[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jiyoung Ahn, PhD
Dr. King[/caption]
Brett King, MD, PHD
Dr. King was named an American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) “Patient Care Hero”
for his work treating patients with severe alopecia areata
Dermatology Physicians of Connecticut
Fairfield, Connecticut
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly explain the condition of Alopecia Areata?
Response: Alopecia Areata (AA), an autoimmune form of hair loss, is common and its treatment has been revolutionized in the past ~3 years with approvals of 3 JAK inhibitors, bariticinib, ritlecitinib and deuruxolitinib. Prior to these approvals, off label treatments included the JAK inhibitors tofacitinib and ruxolitinib.
Dr. Casale[/caption]
Thomas B. Casale, M.D.
Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Chief of Clinical and Translational Research
Division of Allergy and Immunology
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The data leading to FDA approval of neffy came from extensive pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies. As with previous epinephrine delivery devices, the FDA asked for data showing that after delivery of neffy the epinephrine blood levels and expected changes in pulse and blood pressure were similar to those achieved with injectable formulations of epinephrine. neffy performed as expected with blood levels of epinephrine bracketed by those achieved with EpiPen and a needle and syringe along with increases in pulse and blood pressure compatible with the epinephrine levels measured.
Additionally, clinicians are interested in whether neffy would perform similarly in real clinical situations. The data from the neffy experience program provides real-world assurance that neffy can effectively treat acute allergic reactions. Given the large number of patients and the similar findings to those achieved with injectable epinephrine in previous studies, the data should provide assurance that neffy can be an effective substitute for injectable epinephrine in patients that desire a needle-free option.
Dr. Donofry[/caption]
Shannon D. Donofry Ph.D.
Behavioral Scientist
B.A.Sc. in psychology/neuroscience
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus;
Ph.D, University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus
[caption id="attachment_70207" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Rancaño[/caption]
Katherine M. Rancaño, Ph.D
Associate Policy Researcher
RAND
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: GLP-1 medications were first used to help people with diabetes manage their blood sugar. Lately, they’ve become popular for helping people lose weight, too. Because of this, a lot more people have started using them. In our study, we asked over 8,000 adults from across the country about their use of GLP-1 medications and any side effects they had.
L. Levi[/caption]
Liran Levi, PhD student
Faculty of Medicine at Hebrew University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Motivated behavior is driven by a group of brain regions called collectively the reward system. This neural system is at the heart of every decision we make about our actions - it integrates information about the world and decides whether to perform a behavior or not based on the predicted reward/benefit. The key molecule in this process is dopamine - whenever we perform a behavior that provides a reward dopamine is released in the reward system and reinforces this behavior. Drugs of abuse exploit this system - they cause abnormally high levels of dopamine, and thus force the reward system to seek drugs constantly, even after prolonged withdrawal. From a neurobiological perspective, that is how we view substance dependence - the reward system drives people to seek for the reward.
Dr. Campanella[/caption]
Gabriele Campanella, PhD
Assistant Professor
Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Lung cancer is the most lethal cancer in the US. Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common form of lung cancer with an incidence of over 100k per year in the US. EGFR mutations are common driver mutations in LUAD, and importantly, these mutations can be targeted by TKI therapy, which has high response rates. Because of this, EGFR testing via NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) is considered mandatory by guidelines for any LUAD diagnosis.
In high-resource settings, rapid EGFR testing is done while waiting for confirmation via NGS. This is because NGS takes about 2 weeks on average, while the rapid testing has a median TAT of 2 days. Early treatment decisions could be made based on the rapid test results. Rapid tests have some important drawbacks, most notably, it exhausts tissue. In lung cancer, tissue is scarce in the first place, and up to 25% of cases, after rapid testing there is not enough tissue for NGS. In those circumstances, patients have to be biopsied again, which adds unnecessary risk for the patient. Even worse, in some cases, the NGS is never done. A non-tissue-exhaustive computational biomarker could be used instead of the tissue-based rapid test.