Webinar: Facing the Challenges and Unknowns Posed by GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Medications
About this Webinar:
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a hormone that plays important roles in regulating appetite and blood sugar levels. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) are a new group of drugs that were originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes and that are increasingly prescribed to manage weight. GLP-1 RAs have been shown to be very effective at lowering blood sugar levels, as well as demonstrating benefits for heart health and kidney function. However, there is a lack of evidence to inform whether GLP-1 RAs could be administered in populations with eating disorders. In this webinar Dr Brown will provide an overview of how GLP-1RAs act in the brain to increase feeling of satiety as well as reduce hedonic aspects of eating behaviour such as craving. She will also cover what is known about the role of GLP-1 in stress and mood. Assoc/Prof Piya will then provide an overview of the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists medications in Type 2 diabetes and weight management. He will overview the clinical trial data to date and address factors clinicians should take into account when patients with an eating disorder seek guidance on GLP-1 RAs.
Presented By:
Associate Professor Milan Piya, Clinical Academic Endocrinologist, Western Sydney University AND Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals Research Lead – Macarthur Clinical Obesity Research Program (MCORP)
Associate Professor Milan Piya is a clinical academic endocrinologist at the School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, and at Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals. He is Research Lead for the multidisciplinary publicly funded South Western Sydney Metabolic Rehabilitation and Bariatric Program (SWS MRBP) in Camden Hospital. He is on the Council of the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS) and chairs the Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals Research Committee. A large number of people in the SWS MRBP have mental health problems and eating disorders including binge eating disorder, and the program has adopted screening questionnaires to identify this risk in all patients who enrol. Milan completed his clinical training in Endocrinology in the UK, and his PhD in obesity and metabolism at the University of Warwick, UK, before moving to Sydney in 2017.
Dr Robyn Brown, Senior Lecturer | Head, Behavioural Neuropharmacology Laboratory, The University of Melbourne
Robyn Brown is head of the Behavioural Neuropharmacology Laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, University of Melbourne. She completed a PhD in 2010 (Monash University) and Bachelor of Commerce/Science (honours) in 2004 (University of Melbourne). She completed her postdoctoral training in addiction neuroscience with Peter Kalivas (USA). During her postdoctoral training Robyn established an independent line of research investigating the parallels between drug addiction and overeating and determined they have coincident neural underpinnings. Her basic science laboratory studies neural mechanisms underlying maladaptive forms of motivated behaviour such as loss-of-control eating, binge eating and stress-related or emotional eating using a multi-disciplinary approach involving behavioural models, fibre photometry, chemogenetics, viral methods and multi-omics approaches.
We are pleased to have had Dr Milan Piya and Dr Robyn Brown discuss their research findings and experience in this growing area of interest. Although somewhat of a controversial topic with relation to eating disorders, we recognise that many practitioners are seeing patients who are using these medications, and there is a crucial need therefore to be informed and equipped to understand the mechanism of action of these medications and consider the implications for clinical practice. It is important to note that currently and at the time this webinar was recorded, there is no research into GLP1-RA use in eating disorder or bariatric surgery populations, and hence the speakers have drawn on personal experience and clinical anecdotes to comment on this area.
