S5 - E1 - How might approval of a MASH drug affect patient treatment?

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The first episode of Season 5 of Surfing the MASH Tsunami starts with a brief discussion of what the co-hosts have worked on for the last two months and proceeds to consider the impact on patient treatment of having a MASH drug approved in the US market, particularly in today's direct-to-consumer weight loss advertising.

The conversation starts with Jörn Schattenberg discussing his first two months as a Department Chair, focusing on the transition, challenges, and opportunities he has encountered. He focuses on the satisfying challenges and opportunities he's encountered, including managing inpatient departments and enhancing the department's focus on liver-centric research and clinical practices. Significant emphasis is placed on improving diagnostic capabilities and clinical trials, highlighted by securing two major EU grants for liver disease research.

Louise's talk focuses on the launch of a new, user-friendly MyLife365.me website aimed at improving liver health. The revised website is generating major growth in traffic and has expanded beyond the world's major English-speaking marketing to France and India. Louise highlights the app's success in engaging both the general public and physicians, which can facilitate easier discussions about liver health with physicians and patients sharing easy-to-interpret, color-coded outputs.

Roger briefly discusses some of the changes coming to this podcast in 2024. One exciting element is the new "Question of the Week" segment, which is scheduled to launch later this month.

The rest of the discussion centers around some practical patient treatment issues that might arise upon the approval of a MASH drug (presumably resmetirom, coming later this year).  Some of the discussion focuses specifically on increased needs for patient identification and screening that will arise with increased consumer public relations and physician education. Roger expresses a concern that increased consumer advertising for telemedicine and local medical practices that center around prescribing semaglutide or tirzepatide over the phone will create an array of challenges for patient screening and management (possibly even accurate record keeping). The  group agrees that increasing the depth and breadth of education will be one key to success, including a broadening of targeted specialties and, as Louise points out, different provider groups.