S4-E15.1 - What is The Liver Forum and Initial Impressions

Send us Fan MailThis week on Surfing NASH, co-hosts Jörn Schattenberg and Roger Green review the recently concluded Liver Forum. Joining discussion are Liver Forum Executive Director Veronica Miller and speakers Mazen Noureddin (Houston Research Institute), Michelle Long (Novo Nordisk) and Jeff McIntyre (Global Liver Institute). Veronica leads this conversation with a recap of how the Forum aims to advance the regulatory sciences for the treatment of NAFLD/NASH and liver fibrosis by providing an independent and neutral venue for multi-stakeholder dialogue. She underscores the importance of being able to convene as a community to discuss how drugs get researched and approved, and how patients participate in this ongoing process. Jeff notes that patient involvement has increased with each successive year and points to a panel discussion following a presentation on OCA Program Learnings that featured a patient representative. Veronica later comments on the Forum’s history of representing patient voices at both an organization and individual level. Michelle reminds that “at the end of the day, it's about making people feel, function and survive better.” From the patient perspective, halting progression and stabilizing disease are significant quality of life components for treating NASH. Jörn agrees that this message around stabilization of disease can be better amplified before describing how the energies of the meeting carried through to Europe where he was attending remotely. Roger, who also attended remotely, comments positively on the cohesiveness of the program. Finally, Mazen introduces a few of the specific scientific topics explored. Namely, he touches on cirrhosis, the future of combination therapy, clinical trial design and a session on statistics which proved entertaining with charismatic presenters. If you enjoy the episode, have questions or interest around its contents and Fatty Liver disease, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download our discussions. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at [email protected] Safe and Surf On!