The world of diabetes and obesity research has exploded in recent years with the blockbuster success of glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 therapies and the rapid pace of innovation seen with next-generation therapies.

Some of these advances, along with broader trends in the metabolic disorders space were at display at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting, which took place September 28 to October 2 in Milan last week.

Diabetes care is becoming much broader and more holistic, says Maria Alexandrovich an analyst with GlobalData Healthcare. “We're no longer just looking at the HbA1c levels or weight loss, but we're also looking into things like the quality of that weight loss, the overall health of the patient and the longer-term outcomes.”

Moreover, efficacy is no longer the differentiator for GLP-1 therapies and tolerability is increasingly becoming an important factor in positioning them, says Sara Reci a managing analyst at GlobalData Healthcare.

Another emerging area of research discussed widely at the conference dealt with amylin-based therapies like petrelintide. For amylin-based therapies, Reci says the data suggests that, “Monotherapy is a tolerability play rather than an efficacy play. The larger opportunity lies in combinations, but combining does not come free on tolerability. And therefore, my read on this is that the eventual winners will be combinations that add efficacy while keeping close to tolerability.”

In this episode of GlobalData Media podcasts in Healthcare, Alexandrovich and Reci discuss the latest advances in the world of diabetes research that they captured at EASD 2026, and walk us through what the these data updates could mean for clinicians, researchers, and patients in the diabetes space.