Suzhou Zhonghua Pharmaceutical's Weilening, a 100 mg sacubitril/valsartan sodium tablet, has won NMPA approval in China for adults with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (NYHA class II-IV, LVEF of 40% or less). The company positions the dual-target drug as addressing an unmet need in standard treatment for heart failure, the end stage of cardiovascular disease.
On September 17, 2026, Bayer announced that the FDA approved finerenone (Kerendia) for chronic kidney disease associated with type 1 diabetes in adults. It is the third US indication for finerenone and the first new FDA-approved treatment option in more than 30 years for CKD related to type 1 diabetes, a setting where treatment options have long been limited, adding drug therapy evidence targeting kidney progression risk.
BMI at diagnosis shows a U-shaped association with recurrence-free survival in early-onset colorectal cancer, with the lowest hazard at BMI 27 and the highest at BMI below 20 or above 30 (LRT p=0.02). In 1,459 curative-intent surgery patients, no such association appeared in average-onset colorectal cancer (LRT p=0.15), and the cohorts differed significantly (LRT p=0.046). The findings suggest the obesity paradox may be specific to EOCRC.
The US FDA has approved Bayer's Kerendia (finerenone) for chronic kidney disease associated with type 1 diabetes, making it the first entirely new therapy for this population in more than 30 years. The approval is finerenone's third in the US, following July 2021 approval for reducing cardiorenal risk in adults with CKD related to type 2 diabetes and July 2025 approval for symptomatic chronic heart failure with LVEF of at least 40%. Finerenone is now the only mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist approved for CKD related to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
The US FDA has approved Bayer's Kerendia (finerenone tablets) to reduce urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) in adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) associated with type 1 diabetes. Announced on 17 September 2026, this is the first new treatment option FDA has approved for T1D-related CKD in more than 30 years, and the third indication for finerenone since its first approval in 2021. Around 20% to 30% of type 1 diabetes patients have CKD, and about a quarter of them progress to end-stage renal disease.
Bayer's Kerendia has received FDA approval for chronic kidney disease associated with type 1 diabetes in adults, making it the first new drug approved for this indication in nearly 30 years. The original article describes the drug as positioned as a cardio-renal therapy, and the approval ends three decades without a new drug in this field.
The FDA has approved Bayer's Kerendia (finerenone) for adults with chronic kidney disease associated with type 1 diabetes. Bayer said on September 17 that this is the first fundamentally new treatment option the FDA has approved for T1D-related CKD in more than 30 years. The agency accepted Bayer's supplemental new drug application for the indication in May and granted it priority review.
The FDA has approved Bayer's Kerendia (finerenone) for adults with chronic kidney disease associated with type 1 diabetes, Bayer announced on September 17, 2026. It is the first drug approved by the FDA for this indication in more than 30 years. The approval fills a long-standing treatment gap for CKD patients with type 1 diabetes.
At the 2026 ESC Congress, HighTide Therapeutics' oral AMPK-NLRP3 dual-mechanism drug HTD1801 showed multi-organ effects across cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) disease. In two phase 3 trials in type 2 diabetes it met primary endpoints, with HbA1c changes of -1.3% and -1.2% at week 24, sustained to week 52. It also lowered LDL-C and non-HDL-C, and in a glomerular hyperfiltration subgroup reduced the eGFR slope by 3.00 mL/min/1.73 m2 per year versus placebo.
A study published in Science (IF=41.3) clarifies, from a metabolic epigenetics perspective, the molecular circuit by which histone lactylation drives metabolic reprogramming and phenotypic switching in vascular smooth muscle cells, and identifies KAT7 and PDK1 as new therapeutic targets. The study also found that blood lactate levels are significantly elevated in patients with aortic aneurysm and dissection (AAD), suggesting its clinical value as a potential biomarker for AAD.
Novo has walked away from a $285 million pact with Ascendis to develop a monthly GLP-1 obesity drug, ending the collaboration after less than two years. The deal had aimed to develop a longer-acting monthly weight loss treatment. The article gives no further details on what happens next.
Why it matters: Novo terminated a $285 million GLP-1 obesity partnership with Ascendis, altering the competitive landscape for monthly weight loss drugs.
A stent coating (C15-NOGC) that couples sustained nitric oxide generation with immobilized chemerin-15 promotes coordinated vascular healing in ApoE-/- rats. The Cu-DOTA-polydopamine coating drives physiological-level NO release while C15 shifts macrophages toward a pro-resolving phenotype with higher ChemR23 expression and phagocytosis. Stents carrying the coating enhanced early re-endothelialization and reduced neointimal area versus bare metal and drug-eluting stents.
Clematichinenoside AR, a natural triterpenoid saponin, reduced serum uric acid and inhibited xanthine oxidase activity in a mouse model of hyperuricemia, while easing uric acid-induced kidney and liver injury. It lowered TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-1beta and renal malondialdehyde, upregulated ABCG2, NRF2 and HO-1, and downregulated NLRP3 and Caspase-1. Untargeted serum metabolomics showed the effect centers on purine metabolism and the NRF2/HO-1 pathway.
Arterial insufficiency on penile duplex ultrasound was found in 18 of 106 men under 40 with erectile dysfunction (17.0%), and obstructive sleep apnea was associated with it independently of BMI (OR 6.39, 95% CI 1.19-34.50, P = .031). Neither stress, psychiatric history, nor routine labs including testosterone discriminated men with arterial insufficiency. The findings argue against attributing ED in this age group solely to psychogenic causes and identify OSA as a potentially modifiable vascular risk factor.
Novo Nordisk won Chinese approval on September 10, 2026 for semaglutide injection (Wegovy) in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), covering non-cirrhotic adults with moderate to severe fibrosis (stage F2-F3). It is the first drug approved for MASH in China and the only GLP-1 drug with this indication. MASLD affects about 38% of adults worldwide.
Adding hydrogen-rich water to Ye-Shi-Shi-Lin-Formula improved outcomes in kidney stone patients in a randomized controlled trial of 100 patients treated for 12 weeks. Total effective rates were 28% in the blank group, 76% with Chinese medicine alone, 80% with hydrogen-rich water plus Chinese medicine, and 32% with hydrogen-rich water alone. The combination showed superior effects on oxidative stress, blood uric acid, urinary stone-related metabolic factors, and renal tubular function.
Why it matters: It quantifies the added benefit of hydrogen-rich water to a traditional Chinese medicine compound in a randomized trial of 100 kidney stone patients.
Hyperthermia shifts gastric electrical activity toward spike-pattern waves in rats. Five rats kept at 42 ± 1 °C for 60 minutes showed more spike pattern waves on electrogastrography than five room-temperature controls (p < 0.01), with FFT analysis of full-length and five 15-minute segments. The finding links heat stress to altered autonomic activity and irregular gastric electrical activity.
Guiding complete revascularization by functional coronary angiography rather than conventional angiography cut adverse events after STEMI. In 1823 patients with multivessel disease, the composite of death, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident, or ischemia-driven revascularization occurred in 8.9% versus 13.7% (hazard ratio 0.62) at a median 17.9 months, with fewer safety events (4.6% vs 7.1%). This supports physiology-based assessment for selecting nonculprit lesions to treat.
Novo Nordisk's semaglutide injection (Wegovy/Novo Nordisk's brand Nuvo Ying) has been approved for MASH in patients with moderate to severe liver fibrosis. The approval is based on the primary results of part 1 of the ESSENCE outcomes trial, which enrolled 1,197 MASH patients with biopsy-confirmed F2 or F3 fibrosis. Semaglutide met both liver histology primary endpoints versus placebo.
The oral non-peptide small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist Foundayo produced mean weight loss of 12.4% (27.3 pounds) at 72 weeks at the highest dose versus 0.9% (2.2 pounds) with placebo, in an on-treatment estimand counting only those who stayed on the drug, within the ATTAIN global clinical program covering both diabetic and non-diabetic populations, with results published in the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. Under a treatment-policy estimand including discontinuations, the highest dose gave 11.1% (25 pounds) versus 2.1% (5.3 pounds) for placebo.
