GLP-1 receptor agonists and finerenone in nondiabetic CKD

Jürgen Floege, MD, is a professor of medicine, director of the Division of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology at the University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany, and Distinguished Fellow of the European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA).

Do you think that in the near future glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and finerenone will also be used in patients with nondiabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD)?

Well, GLP-1 agonists have the beauty that you lose weight. Now, I don’t need to lose weight, so in me it would probably not do anything. But if you’re obese, it could help if you accept that you are slightly nauseated all day long.

The situation is much more obvious for finerenone, the mineralocorticoid antagonist that has just been licensed for use in diabetic kidney disease. And the company is just starting a trial in nondiabetic kidney disease, the FIND-CKD study, which will give us the final evidence whether this works in nondiabetics or not.

But I believe the database on aldosterone antagonists is very good and I very much look forward to those data.