The Pituitary World News Podcast

S6E9: About the risk of infections in pituitary patients: One Doctor's opinion

In this timely podcast Dr. Lewis Blevins, PWN co-founder, and Medical Director, California Center for Pituitary Disorders at UCSF Professor of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Neurological Surgery, provides an in-depth discussion of viral infections specifically for people with pituitary disease.

S6E8: 6. The clinical trial process in new drug development

Dr. Alan Krasner, Chief Medical Officer, and Dr. Chris Cook, Medical Director, Endocrinology at Crinetics Pharmaceuticals offer an in-depth look at clinical studies.  In this podcast, we cover a promising molecule - CRNOO808 - under development for acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors (NET's), and another hopeful new drug for pediatric congenital hyperinsulinism.  They talked about the challenges, their hopes for new therapeutic strategies, the complexities of their work, and how patients can get involved with industry and government regulators to improve these drugs and therapies.   Click here to listen to more podcasts.

S6E7: Coronavirus

From Jorge Faccinetti and Lewis Blevins, M.D. - In today's podcasts, I ask Dr. Lewis Blevins, PWN co-founder and Medical Director, California Center for Pituitary Disorders at UCSF, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Neurological Surgery, about his views on the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We discuss the current situation from a physician's perspective of what could be a very worrisome global situation.

S6E6: 5. The fascinating work of discovering a new molecule

Today we continue our series on new drug development – “the journey to a new drug.” This is a captivating conversation with Dr. Stacy Markison - who is Crinetics senior director of Pharmacology and Toxicology - about the science of discovery and the work that goes into making sure a compound is safe for human studies and does what it’s supposed to do.

S6E5: Tackling unmet needs: new compounds in development for non-functioning pituitary adenomas and rare endocrine diseases

In today's podcast, we highlight a new company dedicated to the rare endocrine disease world.  Tiburio Therapeutics is working on two exciting compounds for the treatment of Non-functioning Pituitary Adenomas and rare endocrine disorders.

Last week Dr. Blevins and I caught up with Abe Ceesay, Tiburio CEO and Nerissa Kreher M.D., Chief Medical Officer, both highly experienced professionals in the rare endocrine space. We had a fascinating talk about their plans in this area of extensive need for patients. Here’s our talk.

S6E4: 4. "The journey to a new drug": understanding molecules and receptors

This podcast, the fourth in our drug development series “the journey to a new drug,” brings you my conversation with Dr. Stephen Betz, cofounder at Crinetics Pharmaceutical. Our discussion spotlights new drugs for acromegaly, Cushing’s, and pediatric hyperinsulinism, currently under development at Crinetics. It includes a fascinating talk on molecules and how they work with cell receptors to eventually provide a launching pad for new drugs.

We hope this podcast will serve up a better understanding of the many steps required to find and bring new medications and therapies to patients.

S6E3: 3. Giving patients a place at the table

The third podcast in our series on drug development touches on the effort that industry is making to partner with patients to understand needs, preferences, and attitudes, and to develop insights that would result in better drugs and therapeutic experiences. In our conversation with Stephanie Kallay, Crinetics Director of Patient Advocacy, we discuss their effort to, as Stephanie put it, give the patient a place at the table. We talked about listening to the voice of the patient, the opportunities and challenges of engaging patients and the efforts that the industry is making to include their perspectives in everything they do.

S6E2: 2. The business and commercial considerations

The second podcast in our continuing series on drug development focuses on the commercial and business aspects of getting a growing company ready for a new drug. Today we talk with Gina Ford, Crinetics’ Vice president of Corporate Strategy and Commercial Planning, about the challenges and opportunities as these new potential medications move through the development pipeline.

S6E1: 1. Exploration, Innovation and Creativity: An intimate look at new drug development in the world of pituitary and neuroendocrine disease

This is the first in a series of 6 podcasts on the ins and outs of drug development.  In it, we discuss the journey that a promising molecule takes to develop into a life-saving medication and the people that steer that rigorous work.  How does a company go from a molecule to the actual medication? What are the steps? Who is involved? What are the processes and barriers?  And what does that process look like in real-time?  Thanks to a kind invitation from Dr. Scott Struthers, chairman of Crinetics Pharmaceutical and his team, PWN readers and listeners will get an unfettered look at a young company's efforts to develop new drugs to solve unmet needs in acromegaly, Cushing's and rare neuroendocrine disease.  Don’t miss it!

S5E15: A discussion of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin and its use in men with hypopituitarism and infertility

Today's podcast discusses HCG and its use with men with hypopituitarism and infertility.  Dr. Blevins focuses his discussion on many of the relevant subjects related to hypogonadism (where the body does not produce enough testosterone),  especially as it relates to hypopituitarism, a condition in which the pituitary gland does not produce one or more of its hormones or not enough of them to function normally