Rajiv Agarwal, MD, MS, is a Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine and VA Medical Centre in Indianaoplis.

Who Benefits Most From CKD Combination Therapy? Breaking Down CONFIDENCE Trial Findings

The treatment paradigm for chronic kidney disease (CKD) is rapidly evolving, as clinicians move from a single-drug approach to a more complex, multi-therapy strategy. Over the past several years, the introduction of SGLT2 inhibitors, finerenone, and semaglutide alongside traditional RAAS blockade has created both new opportunities and new uncertainty around how best to deploy these therapies.

In an interview with HCPLive at World Congress of Nephrology (WCN) in Yokohama, Japan, Rajiv Agarwal, MD, MS, said this expanding toolkit has raised a critical question as to whether therapies should be introduced sequentially or started together. While clinicians have historically taken a stepwise approach titrating one agent at a time, he notes that this process can take up to a year, time during which ongoing kidney and cardiovascular damage may continue.

In response, the CONFIDENCE trial was designed to evaluate whether simultaneous initiation of combination therapy could accelerate benefit without compromising safety. He explains that this was the first adequately powered study to assess starting therapies such as finerenone and SGLT2 inhibitors at the same time. While prior studies evaluated add-on strategies, they did not address the safety and efficacy of concurrent initiation.

Concerns going into the trial included the potential for hypotension, acute kidney injury, and hyperkalemia, particularly given the hemodynamic effects of these agents. The findings, however, demonstrated that combination therapy could achieve meaningful reductions in albuminuria both safely and effectively.

A pair of additional analyses from CONFIDENCE presented at WCN offer further insight into patient response. The first examined differences by sex and age, revealing that women experienced approximately 20% greater reductions in urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio compared with men. Agarwal noted that older patients also demonstrated enhanced responses, with each decade of age associated with a roughly 10% greater likelihood of benefit. Of note, these gains were not accompanied by increased safety concerns, challenging assumptions about treating higher-risk populations.

The second analysis addressed early declines in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), a common concern when initiating these therapies. Agarwal emphasizes that these initial dips are typically reversible and not predictive of long-term harm. Rather than discontinuing treatment, clinicians should monitor patients closely, particularly if eGFR declines exceed 30%, and adjust contributing factors such as volume status or concomitant medications.

Ultimately, he underscores that multimodal therapy represents the future of CKD management. Early and sustained use of combination treatment, he suggests, has the potential to significantly reduce cardiovascular events and extend patient survival.

Editors’ note: Relevant disclosures for Agarwal include Akebia Therapeutics, Alnylam, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Intercept, Novartis, and others.

Campbell P. CONFIDENCE: SGLT2i and Finerenone Effective, Safe to Initiate Simultaneously in CKD. HCPLive. June 5, 2025. Accessed April 2, 2026. 

https://www.hcplive.com/view/confidence-sglt2i-and-finerenone-effective-safe-to-initiate-simultaneously-in-ckd

Agarwal R. Effect of Simultaneous Initiation of Finerenone and Empagliflozin on Urinary Albumin-to-creatinine Ratio by Age and Sex in the CONFIDENCE Trial. Presented at World Congress of Nephrology (WCN) in Yokohama, Japan, March 28-31, 2026.

Agarwal R. Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate, Systolic Blood Pressure, and Urinary Albumin-to-creatinine Ratio — Unravelling the Interplay in Combination: Findings From the CONFIDENCE Trial. Presented at World Congress of Nephrology (WCN) in Yokohama, Japan, March 28-31, 2026.

Videos

Further CONFIDENCE analyses support safe combination therapy in CKD, with improved responses in key patient subgroups.

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CONFIDENCE Trial Insights on CKD Combination Therapy, With Rajiv Agarwal, MD, MS

Pranav Garimella, MBBS, MPH, is chief medical officer of the American Kidney Fund.

OPTN Policy Gave Back Time, Increased Transplants for Black Kidney Candidates So Why Have Rates Plateaued?

national policy restored waitlisting time and saw an increase in 5.3 transplants per 1000 listings

 for Black kidney transplant candidates marginalized by race-based kidney function equations for decades.

New data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) pointed out that transplant rates have begun to decline again, with experts suggesting structural barriers remain a looming challenge in getting historically marginalized patients onto transplant lists.

“The numbers for a long period of time have been stable, and we see this fight between 2023 and 2024 and over the last two years, once again, there has been a flattening of that curve, and that's because what the policy did was to repay a historical debt of inequity, and that has now been restored,” Pranav Garimella, MBBS, MPH, Chief Medical Officer of the American Kidney Fund and an associate professor of medicine at UC San Diego, told HCPLive. “The question now remains, how do we take this forward and improve access to transplantation for people who have historically been marginalized?”

The history of race-based GFR involves distinct values for patients who identified as black compared to other races. These were based on studies published in the 1990s, which found increased serum creatinine levels in black participants, which they attributed to increased average muscle mass, a historic clinical misconception and stereotype. As a result, race-based GFR equations systematically assigned a ~16–18% higher eGFR value to these patients, leading to an underestimation in the severity of kidney disease, thereby delaying treatment at crucial intervention windows.

In 2021, the National Kidney Foundation and American Society of Nephrology recommended the 2021 CKD-EPI Creatinine Equation, a race-free formula using serum creatinine, age, and sex, removing the variable “black” or “non-black”. The OPTN implemented a national policy in 2022, bolstering the CKD-EPI equation to improve accuracy and fairness in kidney care.

As recently as January 2023, the OPTN implemented a second national policy, which required the review and adjustment of waiting times for Black candidates who had been disadvantaged by the previous equation.

Despite the gains made by this national policy, 

barriers to kidney care and transplantation remain for historically marginalized patient populations.

“Even if we provide them with an updated GFR that makes them eligible, there are factors, financial economics, and social determinants that may not allow them to receive a transplant,” Garimella said. “While the policy itself has shown that it can result in meaningfully increased transplant access to patients who get to that transplant list, getting to that transplant list remains the challenge, and again, beyond people who identify as black.”

Another important facet of this data that Garimella points out is the increase in transplants for candidates who identified as Black, which did not reduce transplants from individuals of other races. He emphasizes that correcting this historical injustice does not mean taking away from others.

Editor’s Note: Garimella has relevant disclosures with Otsuka and the PKD Foundation.

Khazanchi R, Fleishman A, Eneanya ND, et al. Wait Time Modifications for Black Transplant Candidates Affected by Race-Based Kidney Function Estimation. 

. Published online September 2026:e260001. doi:

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2026.0001

Uppal P, Benjamin Ira Golden, Panicker A, Khan OA, Burday MJ. The Case Against Race-Based GFR. 

https://doi.org/10.32481/djph.2022.08.014

Charles K, Mary Jane Lewis, Montgomery E, Reid M. The 2021 Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration Race-Free Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate Equations in Kidney Disease: Leading the Way in Ending Disparities. 

New OPTN data shows kidney transplant gains from race-free GFR and restored wait times stall, as structural barriers still limit equitable listing access.

Michael E. Thase, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania

Single-Day GH001 for TRD Shows Rapid Response, With Michael E. Thase, PhD

A single-day dose of inhaled mebufotenin (GH001), a psychedelic-based intervention, demonstrated rapid and clinically meaningful improvements in depressive symptoms among adults with 

, a new phase 2b study showed. GH001 improved depression severity within 1 week.

Rapid-acting treatments, including neuromodulation and glutamatergic agents, have expanded the therapeutic landscape of TRD. Yet, these treatments often require repeated visits and prolonged monitoring. The GH001 individualized dosing approach, allowing up to 3 escalating doses administered on a single day, was designed to optimize response while minimizing treatment burden.

“An 8-hour visit really taxes your clinical space,” Thase said. “It is true that you might have a dosing space for the first hour or 2 where it's more medical and then a recovery room area for the subsequent 4 to 6 hours…but you do have to have staff available, even if you're not emphasizing the psychotherapeutic aspects of a psychedelic experience. In the GH study, we had kindly professional people who prepared the patients for the treatment, who were there with the patient when they had the treatment and [the]… debriefing…we did not attempt to involve the patient's recollection of their experience with any kind of growth-oriented psychotherapy.”

Thase said when you add the psychotherapy component, you need more space and need to spend more money on a psychotherapist. Without psychotherapy, it is more scalable for practices to treat patients with GH001.

“The GH001 is taken through a warm, aerosolized inhalation, and so it is not excessively medical,” he continued. “You don’t need a nurse or a physician because you're giving a controlled substance. It’s not the same thing as putting an IV in. It has about the same medical complexity as intranasal esketamine.”

Intranasal esketamine requires a patient to stay in the clinic for 2 hours post-administration. The required observation period for GH001, if any, would be determined after the FDA reviews phase 3 data.

“That's several years from now, at the soonest,” he said.

In the randomized, double-blind phase 2b trial, 81 adults with TRD were assigned to individualized GH001 dosing (6 mg, 12 mg, and 18 mg) or placebo. The primary endpoint—change in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score from baseline to day 8—favored GH001, with a least squares mean difference of −15.5 points (

 <.001) and a large effect size. Remission at day 8 occurred in 57.5% of GH001-treated participants compared with none receiving placebo, corresponding to a number needed to treat of 2. Investigators also observed improvements in anxiety, global illness severity, and quality-of-life measures.

The individualized dosing strategy permitted escalation at 1-hour intervals when tolerated and when peak psychoactive effects were not achieved. Median psychoactive effects lasted approximately 9 to 14 minutes, depending on dose. Most patients were discharge-ready approximately 1 hour after dosing, suggesting compatibility with outpatient care workflows.

The safety profile observed in the trial was consistent with prior psychedelic research. Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 72.5% of GH001-treated participants, most commonly nausea, salivary hypersecretion, and paresthesia. All events were mild or moderate, and no serious adverse events, discontinuations, or clinically significant changes in vital signs were reported. No treatment-emergent suicidal behavior occurred.

Durability findings from the 6-month open-label extension suggested that many responders required intermittent retreatment. Median time to first retreatment was approximately 6 weeks, and most patients who achieved remission after initial dosing maintained remission with infrequent additional treatments. These findings indicate potential for periodic maintenance rather than continuous therapy.

Thase highlighted the potential role of GH001 in patients who have not responded to multiple pharmacologic classes. He emphasized that rapid onset may allow clinicians to determine effectiveness within days, which may be particularly valuable in urgent clinical scenarios.

“We did not have anybody who didn't really respond and then slowly got better,” Thase said. “People were either better [or not], and it was clear at the end of a week that they got a good response. Knowing for certain if the treatment is going to be valuable quickly is a real advantage.”

Part 1 of the interview with Thase can be viewed 

Relevant disclosures for Thase include Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Janssen Scientific Affairs, E.R. Squibb & Sons, Eli Lilly and Company, H. Lundbeck A S, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, and ITI, Inc. (d/b/a Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc.).

Cubala WJ, Bajbouj M, Bauer M, et al. GH001 vs Placebo in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial. 

An interview with Thase explores rapid antidepressant effects and real-world considerations for single-day individualized GH001 dosing in TRD.


Psychiatry

Psychiatry condition center page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and insights on mental illnesses. This page consists of interviews, articles, podcasts, and videos on the research, treatment and development of therapies for depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and more.

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Major Depressive Disorder condition center page, resources on the topics of medical news and expert insight into depression can be found. Content includes articles, interviews, videos, podcasts, and breaking news on MDD research, treatment, and drug development.

Patrick Campbell is the editorial director of HCPLive. Patrick has spent years spearheading coverage surrounding cardiometabolic health and rheumatic disease for MJH Life Sciences. Before joining MJH Life Sciences in 2019, he spent time as a beat reporter and/or multimedia specialist with the Pocono Record, Star News Group, and NJ Advance Media. He is the executive producer for multiple HCPLive podcasts, including Diabetes Dialogue, Don't Miss a Beat, Kidney Compass, Medical Ethics Unpacked, The Medical Sisterhood, and Skin of Color Savvy. 


Follow him on Twitter @RealPatCampbell or reach him via email at PCampbell@mjhlifesciences.com.

Robert Kushner, MD
Credit: Northwestern University

A population-adjusted indirect comparison presented at the Obesity Medicine Association 2026 found greater mean weight loss with oral semaglutide (Wegovy) than with orforglipron (Foundayo) in adults with 

 and at least 1 weight-related comorbidity, both without diabetes.

The analysis, which comes the day following orforglipron’s FDA approval for obesity, also suggested lower odds of treatment discontinuation due to adverse events, particularly gastrointestinal events, with oral semaglutide.

"People often ask how one medication compares to another when making obesity treatment management decisions," said Robert F. Kushner, MD, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, in a press release from Novo Nordisk. "Since there are no head-to-head trials comparing oral semaglutide for obesity to orforglipron, this indirect treatment comparison from the ORION study provides important information that can be used during the shared decision-making process."

The ORION analysis used data from 2 phase 3 programs: OASIS 4 for oral semaglutide and ATTAIN-1 for orforglipron. Investigators used a simulated treatment comparison to assess percentage change in body weight and a 2-stage matching-adjusted indirect comparison for tolerability outcomes. Analyses were adjusted for baseline body weight, glycemic status, and sex. 

In the efficacy analysis, oral semaglutide 25 mg was associated with a greater reduction in body weight than orforglipron 36 mg, with a mean difference of -3.2 percentage points (95% CI, -5.9 to -0.4) under the treatment-regimen estimand and -3.0 percentage points (95% CI, -5.8 to -0.3) under the efficacy estimand.

For tolerability, orforglipron 36 mg was associated with greater odds of discontinuation due to any adverse event (odds ratio [OR], 4.1; 95% CI, 1.3-13.0) and due to gastrointestinal adverse events (OR, 13.9; 95% CI, 2.0-96.0) relative to oral semaglutide 25 mg. Investigators noted the wide confidence interval for gastrointestinal discontinuation suggests substantial uncertainty around the point estimate.

In their press release, Novo Nordisk noted the comparator in ORION was orforglipron 36 mg used in phase 3 trials and stated the recently FDA-approved orforglipron tablet up to 17.2 mg is considered equivalent to that phase 3 capsule dose. The press release did not provide detailed baseline characteristics, absolute weight-loss rates or adverse-event frequencies from the underlying trials.

Novo Nordisk also presented the OPTIC survey, an online preference study of 800 US adults with obesity or overweight and at least 1 obesity-related complication.

In a predicted-choice comparison between hypothetical treatment profiles resembling oral semaglutide 25 mg and orforglipron, 84% of respondents favored the oral semaglutide-like profile. Of note, this study was observational, used hypothetical profiles, and was conducted before regulatory approval, limiting direct clinical applicability.

"These studies add to the growing body of evidence supporting the clinical strength of semaglutide and highlight attributes that patients value when choosing an obesity medicine that fits their lifestyle," said Jamey Millar, executive vice president, US Operations of Novo Nordisk. "Since its approval, we've seen strong interest in Wegovy

 pill, from both healthcare professionals and people seeking obesity therapy, underscoring the importance of our continued focus on advancing obesity care through our relentless pursuit of innovation."

Novo Nordisk. Wegovy® pill demonstrated greater weight loss than orforglipron and lower odds of stopping medication due to side effects in a new indirect comparison to be presented at Obesity Medicine Association 2026. Novo Nordisk. Published April 2, 2026. Accessed April 2, 2026. 

https://www.novonordisk.com/content/nncorp/global/en/news-and-media/news-and-ir-materials/news-details.html?id=916526

Lilly. FDA approves Lilly's Foundayo™ (orforglipron), the only GLP-1 pill for weight loss that can be taken any time of day without food or water restrictions/ April 1, 2026. Accessed April 1, 2026. 

https://investor.lilly.com/news-releases/news-release-details/fda-approves-lillys-foundayotm-orforglipron-only-glp-1-pill

Articles

A population-adjusted indirect comparison across phase 3 programs in adults with obesity/overweight and ≥1 weight-related comorbidity (without diabetes) suggested oral semaglutide 25 mg achieved greater mean percent weight loss than orforglipron 36 mg. Tolerability modeling indicated higher odds of discontinuation with orforglipron, including discontinuation driven by gastrointestinal adverse events, although estimates carried wide confidence intervals. Novo Nordisk also reported an online preference survey in which most respondents favored a semaglutide-like hypothetical profile, with notable limitations from its observational, preapproval design.

Indirect data suggest oral semaglutide may reduce weight more than orforglipron, but cross-trial comparisons limit clinical interpretation.

Obesity Management

Obesity Management condition center page, resources on the topics of medical news and expert insight into clinical weight management can be found. Content includes articles, interviews, videos, podcasts, and breaking news on obesity research, treatment, and drug development.

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Indirect Analysis Suggests Greater Weight Loss With Oral Semaglutide vs Orforglipron

AAD 2026: Owning Psoriatic Disease, With Lindsay Ackerman, MD

From the first United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA)-approved oral IL-23 receptor antagonist to new data suggesting that biologics may delay the onset of psoriatic arthritis (PsA), the 

2026 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting

During the meeting held in Denver, Colorado, from March 27-31, 

spoke with Lindsay Ackerman, MD, FAAD, who came away from Denver more convinced than ever that dermatologists should be taking ownership of the full psoriatic disease burden in their patients.

Ackerman serves as Chief of Dermatology at Banner University Medical Center, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Arizona, Medical Director of the US Dermatology Partners Clinical Research Institute, and President of Medical Dermatology Specialists in Phoenix. The conversation ranged across the evolving oral treatment landscape, new data on PsA prevention, the late-breaking TOGETHER-PsA incretin combination results, and what Ackerman described as an exciting but still-early reckoning with how obesity management intersects with chronic inflammatory disease. 

Roughly 30% or more of psoriasis patients are likely to develop PsA at some point, and with emerging data showing that both risankizumab and guselkumab are demonstrating delay-to-onset and risk-reduction signals for PsA, Ackerman argued that dermatologists who are already managing these patients' skin disease have both the opportunity and the responsibility to engage with the joint disease — not to displace rheumatology colleagues, but to recognize that the majority of this patient population will be seen first and most frequently in the derm chair.

On the IL-23 front, the headline development for Ackerman was the FDA approval of icotrokinra (ICOTYDE) — the first oral IL-23 receptor antagonist, approved for adults and pediatric patients 12 and older weighing at least 40 kg, dosed once daily — which she characterized as a genuinely new lane for a psoriasis oral market that has historically underperformed relative to biologics. She highlighted the head-to-head data versus deucravacitinib as an important differentiator, and noted that the dosing logistics are manageable: once-daily on waking, with 30 minutes before food, compatible with morning coffee.

 Looking further ahead, she noted that Apogee Therapeutics and Takeda are both advancing oral agents targeting IL-23 or its receptor in phase 2a and phase 3 trials respectively — a pipeline that signals the field is serious about giving patients who prefer oral therapy a genuinely competitive option. The TOGETHER-PsA data showing superior ACR50 plus ≥10% weight loss outcomes with ixekizumab plus tirzepatide versus ixekizumab alone also caught Ackerman's attention — not as a settled paradigm, but as the first controlled signal that pharmacologic co-management of obesity in psoriatic disease may amplify inflammatory disease outcomes in ways anecdotal reports and meta-analyses had only suggested. The 52-week data and companion TOGETHER-PsO results are still to come, and Ackerman was careful to frame the obesity-inflammation intersection as a frontier the field is only beginning to quantify — but one she finds genuinely compelling.

“Medical dermatology has been evolving for the past 2 decades in ways that have escalated and escalated and escalated what our treatment options look like. We're now looking at patients with a different set of eyes, a different lens, into what we can therapeutically achieve. And to me, it's just a brilliant moment,” Ackerman said.

Relevant disclosures for Ackerman include AbbVie, Alumis, Amgen, Arcutis, Beiersdorf, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Dermavant, Galderma, L'Oréal, Novartis, Sun Pharmaceutical, and UCB.

Johnson & Johnson. FDA approval of ICOTYDE™ (icotrokinra) ushers in new era for first-line systemic treatment of plaque psoriasis with a targeted oral peptide. Press release. March 18, 2026. 

https://www.jnj.com/media-center/press-releases/fda-approval-of-icotyde-icotrokinra-ushers-in-new-era-for-first-line-systemic-treatment-of-plaque-psoriasis-with-a-targeted-oral-peptide

Merola JF, et al. Ixekizumab with tirzepatide achieved greater disease control than ixekizumab alone in adults with psoriatic arthritis and overweight or obesity: results from a randomized clinical trial. 

Eli Lilly and Company. Phase 3b data presented at AAD Annual Meeting show Lilly's Taltz (ixekizumab) plus Zepbound (tirzepatide) delivered superior efficacy for adults with psoriatic arthritis and obesity. Press release. March 28, 2026. 

https://investor.lilly.com/news-releases/news-release-details/phase-3b-data-presented-aad-annual-meeting-show-lillys-taltz

Ackerman offers a broad perspective on how psoriatic treatment is shifting, from oral IL-23 inhibitors to the emerging role of incretin therapy in psoriatic disease.

Plaque Psoriasis

The HCPLive plaque psoriasis page is a resource for medical news and expert insights on psoriasis. This page features expert-led coverage, articles, videos and research on the therapies and development of treatments for psoriatic disease, and more.

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Lingfeng Xue, PhD, an old age psychiatry and clinical research assistant at King’s College London.

Analysis of 75,064 UK Biobank participants found late-onset depression associated with worse fluid intelligence and visuospatial memory and a 42–52% increased dementia risk.


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Late-Onset Depression Linked to Increased Dementia Risk, With Lingfeng Xue, PhD

Thierry Passeron, MD, PhD, is a professor and chair of the Department of Dermatology at the Université Côte d'Azur in Nice, France.

In this segment of his interview, Passeron speaks on the next steps for upadacitinib in non-segmental vitiligo (NSV).

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Next Steps for Upadacitinib in Non-Segmental Vitiligo, With Thierry Passeron, MD, PhD

Abigail Brooks is an assistant managing editor for 

She joined MJH Life Sciences in August 2023 shortly after graduating from Monmouth University where she earned her BA in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations/Journalism and later an MA in Interactive Digital Media. She enjoys traveling, running, and reading books. She can be reached at abrooks@mjhlifesciences.com.

The Agency approved Lilly’s orforglipron (Foundayo) for adults with obesity or overweight. It can be taken any time of the day without restrictions on food and water intake.

FDA News

FDA Approves Orforglipron (Foundayo) As First Daily GLP-1 Pill Without Food, Water Restrictions

Christopher Chan, MD, is director of the division of nephrology, professor of medicine, and R Fraser Elliott Chair in Nephrology at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network.

Chan describes the current landscape of dialysis care and why home-based approaches are gaining momentum for patients with ESRD.

Entering A New Era of Flexible Dialysis Care, With Christopher Chan, MD

Sofia Holmqvist-Jämsén, PhD, from the University of Helsinki

A study shows that weekly or daily throat clearing, hoarseness, and voice strain are more common among those with diagnosed respiratory allergies, particularly among women.


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Allergy condition center page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and insights on allergic and inflammatory diseases. This page consists of interviews, articles, podcasts, and videos on the research, treatment and development of therapies for food and seasonal allergies, as well as allergic asthma and related conditions.

Seasonal Allergy

Respiratory Allergies Linked to Frequent Vocal Symptoms, With Sofia Holmqvist-Jämsén, PhD

FDA approvals broaden ALYFTREK and TRIKAFTA eligibility to nearly 95% of US cystic fibrosis patients using a functional, mechanism-based variant criterion.

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Pulmonary Fibrosis

FDA Expands CFTR Modulator Labels, Covering ~95% of US Cystic Fibrosis Patients

Learn smarter oral iron dosing: once daily or every other day to cut GI side effects, boost absorption, and avoid tea/coffee.

Video Series

Oral Iron — Formulation Selection, Dosing Frequency, and Absorption Optimization 

Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD, MPH, is a cardiologist specializing in cardiorenal metabolism at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA. Vaduganathan is a member of Practical Cardiology's advisory board and co-host of Don't Miss a Beat, a podcast presented by Inside Cardiology.

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Hosts break down the latest updates in mineralocorticoid receptor agonists, including the SPIRIT-HF trial and announcements from the finerenone program.

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Type 1 Diabetes

Don’t Miss a Beat

The Don't Miss a Beat Podcast is a regular news roundup of the latest evidence and clinical trial insights across cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases. Don’t Miss a Beat as Steve Greene, MD, and Muthu Vaduganathan, MD, MPH, critically examine recent advances in clinical care and research with perspectives from global experts in the field.

Cardiology

Cardiology condition center page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and insights on cardiovascular and cardiometabolic diseases. This page consists of interviews, articles, podcasts, and videos on the research, treatment and development of therapies for heart disease and cardiovascular events, as well as associated diabetes, renal failure, and more...

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Don't Miss a Beat: MRA Updates at ACC 2026 Scientific Sessions

Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology and Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Rheumatic Diseases and in the Peter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas

Experts reflect on how advances in understanding CLE have fueled drug development and what the trajectory of innovation holds for the field.

Evolving Research Landscape Drives Progress in CLE at AAD 2026

Experts share what they anticipate most from the ongoing AMETHYST Phase 3 program and what approval of a first targeted therapy would mean for patients.

Latest News

CONFIDENCE Trial Insights on CKD Combination Therapy, With Rajiv Agarwal, MD, MS

OPTN Policy Gave Back Time, Increased Transplants for Black Kidney Candidates So Why Have Rates Plateaued?

Single-Day GH001 for TRD Shows Rapid Response, With Michael E. Thase, PhD

Indirect Analysis Suggests Greater Weight Loss With Oral Semaglutide vs Orforglipron

AAD 2026: Owning Psoriatic Disease, With Lindsay Ackerman, MD