Kidney Compass: Navigating Clinical Trials

Introducing Kidney Compass!

Introducing Kidney Compass: Navigating Clinical Trials, your guide to the latest in clinical trials and relevant updates in the world of nephrology—created by Brendon Neuen, MBBS, PhD, and Shikha Wadhwani, MD, MS.

Hosted on HCPLive, Kidney Compass was created to make the changing landscape of nephrology and clinical trials within the specialty easier to understand and navigate, with insights from Neuen and Wadhwani, but also special guests, including some of the leading trialists in the space.

In the inaugural episode of Kidney Compass, the hosts introduce listeners to the podcast’s mission and themselves. After discussing the goals of the podcast, hosts offer the audience insight into their personal journeys in the field, explaining how the need for equitable care and access to innovative therapies for patients with kidney disease has shaped their work.

Wadhwani, the director of Clinical trials in the Division of Nephrology and the vice chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch, provides the audience with insight into her past experiences at Northwestern University, where she launched the institution’s glomerular disease program, but also into what inspired her to pursue a career in nephrology.

Later, Neuen, nephrologist and director of the Kidney Trials Unit at Royal North Shore Hospital and senior research fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, describes how his experience in the northern regions of Australia and providing care for Indigenous Australians fueled his desire to pursue an impactful career in public health, with nephrology as his chosen medium to effect this change.

Beyond their personal experiences in nephrology and medicine, the episode highlights key topics, including the rapid advancements in therapies for glomerular disease, diabetic kidney disease, and the challenges posed by the evolving standards of care. Neuen and Wadhwani emphasize the importance of these clinical trials in driving progress and improving patient outcomes, noting how FDA-approved therapies are emerging from rigorous trials, but also underlining the complexities of trial design, including statistical methods and the continued evolution of endpoints.

Looking ahead, the co-hosts share their excitement about diving deeper into various aspects of nephrology research in future episodes, including multiple planned episodes at the upcoming American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2024.

Relevant disclosures for Neuen include AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer and Ingelheim, Janssen, and others. Relevant disclosures for Wadhwani include the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, GSK, Calliditas and Travere Therapeutics.