How the ASN's GD-C Compendium Aims to Unify Glomerular Disease Care

Glomerular disease patients enter the health system through internists, general nephrologists, and glomerular disease specialists alike, yet guidance on recognizing, staging, and treating these conditions remains scattered across journals, guidelines, and institutional resources. Patients managed only by general nephrologists, without access to a glomerular disease specialist, are less likely to receive a kidney biopsy or newer therapies, a gap tied to delayed diagnosis and treatment.¹

The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) built the Glomerular Diseases Collaborative (GD-C) Compendium to address fragmentation rather than a shortage of information, curating committee-reviewed guidance across 5 conditions: ANCA-associated vasculitis, IgA nephropathy (IgAN), lupus nephritis, C3 glomerulopathy (C3G), and membranous nephropathy. The compendium sits alongside, not in place of, clinical guidelines, moving faster than formal guideline development typically allows while curating landmark studies, a recognition-to-referral pathway, and practical guidance on prior authorization, referrals, and appeals.²

The GD-C Compendium is built to be actionable rather than encyclopedic, according to the American Society of Nephrology.² A dedicated recognition-to-referral pathway walks general nephrologists and internal medicine physicians through which tests to order and when to refer, while a separate library curates landmark clinical trial data as new glomerular disease therapies expand and grow more complex to prescribe.

The compendium is designed to serve 2 distinct audiences with different clinical questions: general clinicians deciding whether a case is glomerular disease at all, and glomerular disease specialists weighing newer therapies and monitoring strategies. George Vasquez-Rios, MD, MSCR, FASN, director of the Glomerular and Genetic Diseases Center at Renal Medicine Associates, helped shape the compendium's structure around homogenizing management regardless of a patient's point of entry into care. In the following interview, Vasquez-Rios discusses the origins of the GD-C Compendium and how it serves both general clinicians and glomerular disease specialists.

Q&A: Inside the ASN's GD-C Compendium

HCPLive: What led to the creation of the GD-C Compendium, and what gap in existing resources was it meant to address?

George Vasquez-Rios, MD: The Glomerular Disease Collaborative is an initiative within the American Society of Nephrology. The Society is trying to ensure good care for patients regardless of where they enter the health system, whether they're seen by an internist, a general nephrologist, or a glomerular disease expert.

We're trying to create a platform that allows physicians at different stages of expertise to learn more about these conditions: how to treat, when to refer, and what options are available. The problem was never a lack of information. We live in an era with a lot of information and a lot of great articles out there. The problem is fragmentation.

The compendium is trying to serve as a platform with curated information, carefully reviewed by a board committee, that represents what we think is the most substantial and relevant information to guide the management of patients.

We're not coming up with new information. We're intentionally broader than the clinical guidelines, because guidelines take time to develop. We intend to provide information and education to guide clinical management as much as we can in this novel and very dynamic field.

HCPLive: What kind of resources does the compendium bring together, and which sections would you point clinicians to first?

George Vasquez-Rios, MD: As I mentioned, the compendium isn't meant to replace clinical guidelines. Those remain the most authoritative information for guiding patient management. We're curating studies, background education, and foundational material, along with information about newer therapies and clinical trials that can help enrich the management of GN patients.

There are a few sections I'd highlight. We provide information on disease biology and mechanisms of action for certain therapies, but we also have dedicated sections meant to make navigating patient management easier. For example, we have a glomerular disease recognition-to-referral section, intended to guide general nephrologists, clinicians, and even internal medicine doctors on how to recognize an active glomerular disease, what tests to start, and when to make referrals.

We also dedicate sections to relevant articles published in recent years, landmark studies and landmark clinical trials, given how hard it is to find time to read through all the literature being published. It's also important to mention we're trying to incorporate patient voices, because we're not only looking to inform or educate physicians, but to empower patients. That's an evolving part of the compendium. And we talk about access to treatment.

With these highly effective medications, there are nuances at the time of prescribing, such as when a medication is indicated, what the side effects are, and how to ensure patients can access these medications. One thing we provide is tips for navigating those issues: prior authorizations, referrals, appeals, and documentation that can help busy clinicians with that side of care.

HCPLive: How does the compendium balance serving both general clinicians and glomerular disease specialists?

George Vasquez-Rios, MD: That's an important consideration, because these are physicians with different needs who manage different populations. A general nephrologist or primary care physician is often trying to answer questions like: is this a glomerular disease, how active is it, how should we approach testing or management?

Those are the questions we're trying to address for that audience. A glomerular disease expert is asking different questions: what are the latest therapies, what evidence supports them, how do I monitor the effects of these medications. Those are more sophisticated, more complex questions.

What we're trying to do with the compendium is help homogenize the management of these patients, regardless of where they entered the healthcare system. We recognize glomerular disease patients are seen across a wide array of specialties, so it's important to have practical foundations and information on how to approach these patients. Hopefully, in the future, this becomes a dynamic resource that can also incorporate recommendations as the evidence emerges.

Editor's Note: This transcript has been edited for grammar and clarity using artificial intelligence tools.

References

1. Monk B, Ewert B, Bomback AS, Gibson KL. Barriers to Patients Accessing Specialized Treatments for Glomerular Diseases. J Am Soc Nephrol. Published online July 14, 2025.

2. American Society of Nephrology. Glomerular Diseases Collaborative (GD-C) Compendium. Accessed September 22, 2026. https://epc.asn-online.org/projects/gd-c/