The Pituitary World News Podcast

In this podcast directed to physicians, Dr. Lewis Blevins shares his vast experience of 30 years treating patients with central hypothyroidism.

In the last podcast in the series on the drugs available to manage hypercortisolism, Dr. Blevins discusses mifepristone, trade name Korlym®.  

This is the fourth podcast in a series of five on medications to treat Cushing’s disease.  Today Dr. Blevins discusses Pasireotide, trade names Signifor and Signifor LAR.

Our third podcast in the series is on osilodrostat (trade name Isturisa® ), a drug approved by the FDA in the US and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to treat hypercortisolism in patients who are not candidates for surgery or those that surgery did not work.  In this podcast, Dr. BLevins takes us inside his clinical practice to share his experiences with the drug.

The second podcast in our series on the medical management of hypercortisolism focuses on the drug metyrapone. Dr. Blevins discusses the drug uses, how it works, and its side effects.  Coming up next, a discussion on the drug Isturiza® (osilodrostat).

This is the first in our series of five podcasts on the medical management of Hypersortisolism due to Cushing's disease. Today Dr. Blevins discusses the drug Ketoconazole.

Today we welcome three renowned experts in the development of drugs to treat hypercortisolism. Dr. Blevins and I discuss their research, clinical trials, challenges, and opportunities for these essential medications that could immensely affect patient well-being and quality of life. This discussion touches on the fascinating details of hypercortisolism and the developments now and in the future.

November 1 is Acromegaly Day. In this Podcast, Dr. Blevins gives us a perspective of the last 30 years on the developments in this field. Like many other conditions, the advances in therapy, imaging, surgery techniques, diagnostic testing, and clinical knowledge have been nothing short of remarkable. The future looks bright with many initiatives and research on new drugs and therapies, but there i...

Last week we caught up with Risa in San Francisco, California. She was nearing 1,200 miles (1,931 kilometers) on her bicycle ride from Canada to Mexico to focus awareness of acromegaly and pituitary disease. We chatted at a cafe not far from the Golden Gate bridge about her experience and what it is like to undertake an effort like this one while managing a challenging disease like acromegaly. Not...

Dr. Lewis Blevins' discussion on the postoperative evaluation and management of patients with hypercortisolism is technical and directed to physicians, but we encourage everyone to listen to it. 

Dr. Blevins takes an in-depth look at Diabetes Insipidus with a specific focus on diagnostic testing. In this podcast, you will be hearing about the risks and benefits of treatment and a detailed review of diagnostic tools, with particular attention to copeptin measurements in conjunction with water deprivation and saline suppression tests.  This is critical information as diabetes insipidus can a...

What happens when the insurance company's first line of response is to deny, deny, deny?  How does this increase in oversight from third-party payors impact the process of rare pituitary disease medicine authorizations indicated for treatment?  Why do insurance companies use these delay tactics? What role do treatment guidelines play? What can we do?  In this podcast, PWN cofounder Dr. Lewis Blevi...

My conversation with Risa Heidt , who will be riding her bike from Canada to Mexico to promote awareness of rare pituitary diseases: Marisa "Risa" Heidt, diagnosed with  acromegaly  (a rare disease of the pituitary gland), in 2018, is undertaking this 1845-mile challenge starting this September 11. Click here for more details and what you can do to help.

In today's podcast, we welcome Claire Murphy, Director of the Orphan Drug Congress, to talk about this important, innovative event. The Congress brings together leading industry, government and regulatory authorities, patient advocacy groups, payers, investors, and solution providers, advancing orphan drug development and improving access to life-saving therapies.    

With the newly announced launch of the phase 3 trial on Paltusotine, Crinetics new nonpeptide oral drug candidate for acromegaly, we asked Dr. Alessandra Casagrande, their new Medical Science Director, to give us her perspectives on this study.

We recently sat down with members of the acromegaly community to discuss their treatment journeys and the lessons they learned along the way, including how they advocate for themselves and how their experiences can help others do the same. We heard about their journey from the initial diagnosis to treatments, and life with acromegaly during the COVID-19 pandemic. You don’t want to miss this engagi...

A discussion of acromegaly and what to do with medical treatment during pregnancy and the options available today.

Rachael Clare was diagnosed with a pituitary macroadenoma at age 21.  Now at 28, in a frank and revealing chat, she shares her experiences and struggles with diagnosis and living with hypopituitarism. Her blog, The Mass and Me, gives us an honest look at her story to help bring more awareness to the challenges of this disease.    

Our section for physicians and health care professionals launches today with a podcast by Dr. Lewis Blevins that discusses ten fascinating cases of patients with hypercortisolism. We hope this section will serve as a platform to share important information, which we hope will lead to a broader understanding of pituitary disease. We invite you to comment and provide feedback to share the teaching p...

How is the emerging knowledge of hypercortisolism influencing how Cushing's disease and syndrome are understood and affecting the practice and those working on the front lines doing the work and caring for patients?  In this podcast, Michael Evans, Director, Commercial Insights, Learning and Development at Corcept Therapeutics, and Lewis Blevins, M.D., Medical Director of the Californian Center fo...

At Pituitary World News we are committed, some would say obsessed, with the need to reduce the time it takes to diagnose pituitary disease. This podcast offers a candid discussion about this and many issues of importance to people dealing with pituitary disease. We caught up with Spanish endocrinologist Dr. Javier Salvador, professor at the Universidad de Navarra last year in Bilbao, Spain. This i...

Today, a brief informal discussion of Cushing's disease issues from cases, articles, and experiences with his patients.

We recently had a chance to sit down with Chiasma Inc.’s Senior VP of Clinical Development & Medical Affairs, Dr. Bill Ludlam, to discuss his career and his work in rare diseases. Dr. Ludlam played an integral role in Chiasma’s acquisition of the first and only FDA approval for oral somatostatin analog (SSA) octreotide, called MYCAPSSA. We discussed the influences that drive Chiasma as an organiza...

A compelling, detailed account of a pituitary patient’s experience with COVID-19 everyone should listen.  As the virus takes hold in what is undoubtedly the worst phase of this pandemic, we urge you to follow all the guidelines provided by the health authorities:  wash your hands often, wear a mask when you are around other people, avoid crowds, and maintain the appropriate distance.

Not surprisingly, COVID-19 appears to have significantly impacted pituitary patients' access to healthcare.  Our brief survey elicited information from respondents on their experiences and attitudes towards obtaining healthcare via telemedicine.  Dr. Blevins shares the findings in this enlightening podcast.