After decades of limited progress in developing treatments for certain kidney diseases, researchers are beginning to see a change. New therapies are emerging for conditions that once had few treatment options, and successful clinical trials are opening doors to treatments that could slow or even stop the progression of kidney damage.
For Jochen Reiser, MD, PhD, president of The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and CEO of the UTMB Health System, the progress is closely connected to a field that has shaped his career. An internationally recognized nephrologist and kidney disease researcher, Reiser has spent decades studying the biological mechanisms behind kidney disease and exploring new approaches to treatment.
Now, UTMB is helping bring together kidney specialists, clinical trial researchers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, regulators, and patient advocates from around the world to address what comes next.
The inaugural International Society of Glomerular Disease (ISGD) Clinical Trials Summit, scheduled for Nov. 13-15 in Galveston, will focus on improving how clinical trials are designed and conducted for glomerular diseases, a group of conditions that damage the kidneys' tiny filtering units.
Hosted by ISGD in partnership with UTMB, the meeting will bring more than 350 attendees to the Galveston Island Convention Center. Reiser and Shikha Wadhwani, MD, MS, FASN, director of nephrology clinical trials at UTMB, will serve as local co-chairs.
For Wadhwani, the timing of the summit is significant.
"For decades, we've seen a lack of positive clinical trials in drug development in the kidney space," she said. "In the last five or six years, we have finally started to have positive clinical trials in several rare kidney diseases as well as more common chronic kidney diseases. This is groundbreaking for our field."
A turning point in kidney research
The progress is particularly evident in IgA nephropathy, one form of glomerular disease. In 2020, there were no FDA-approved treatments specifically for the condition. Today, at least seven options are approved, and additional therapies are being actively studied in clinical trials.
Some of the newer therapies can substantially slow or even halt the progression of kidney disease, giving patients options that were not available just a few years ago.
The advances illustrate what is possible when researchers can successfully design and execute clinical trials. They also highlight why continued investment and collaboration are important.
Glomerular diseases encompass dozens of different conditions, and they do not all behave the same way. They can have different underlying causes, symptoms, and rates of progression. Researchers are still working to understand the biology of many of these diseases and determine which treatments will work best for individual patients.
Finding eligible patients for clinical trials can be difficult, particularly for rare conditions. Patients may be scattered across countries, and researchers must identify them while the disease is active and before kidney damage becomes too advanced.
There are also practical challenges in conducting international studies, recruiting participants, and designing trials that can demonstrate whether a treatment works.
Drug development itself can be a lengthy process, sometimes taking about 10-15 years from early development to a treatment reaching patients.
Another obstacle has been attracting investment. Historically, kidney disease research has received less attention from drug developers than areas such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. But successful trials and clearer pathways for regulatory approval are beginning to generate greater interest.
Wadhwani said the growing number of successful trials has also raised new questions. Researchers must determine which patients are most likely to benefit from particular medications, how different treatments can be safely combined, and how to design future trials as new therapies become part of standard care.
Building a better path to treatment
The summit is intended to bring together the stakeholders who understand those challenges from different perspectives and develop practical ways to address them.
Rather than relying primarily on traditional lectures, the program will feature rapid-fire presentations, roundtables, fireside chats, and plentiful opportunities for participants to exchange ideas.
Discussions will include perspectives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, researchers, kidney trialists from around the globe, and patients.
Organizers also plan to publish a white paper from the meeting, outlining ways to improve clinical trials for glomerular diseases.
One goal is to encourage continued investment in kidney research, including by biotechnology companies that may not have previously considered entering the field.
"We hope that by bringing together all these stakeholders into one room, we can collectively decide how we're going to change the way we approach clinical trials for these rare diseases," Wadhwani said.
The meeting is the result of a partnership between ISGD and UTMB, which was selected to host the inaugural summit. The partnership was announced during an international meeting in Hamburg, Germany, in June 2025.
“Over my career, nephrology has become very good at slowing kidney disease down. What we haven’t done nearly often enough is change where it’s headed,” Reiser said. “That shift depends on understanding the biology underneath each of these diseases: what is actually driving the damage, and where we can step in while there is still kidney function to protect. Some of the most important advances have come from questioning what we thought we already knew. The science is finally giving us those answers. Now we must turn them into therapies, and no single lab, company, or institution can do that alone.”
Reiser said it is fitting that UTMB hosts the first summit during its 135th year, as the summit reflects the university’s long tradition of pushing academic medicine forward.
“Galveston will have everyone in one room: the investigators, regulators, industry partners, and patients who each hold a piece of the solution,” he said. “If we leave with a clearer and faster path from a promising discovery to a trial that proves it works, we’ll be meaningfully closer to treatments that don’t just manage these diseases but change their course for good.”
For Reiser, the gathering brings together his own research interests and the institution’s commitment to innovation. He will moderate a discussion on the connections between brain and kidney health, one of several sessions designed to explore emerging questions in the field.
"His life's work to date has been to uncover disease pathways and also to find ways to translate the science into therapeutics for some of these glomerular diseases," Wadhwani said. "It's a special moment for us to bring this together at UTMB."
Finding kidney disease earlier
Even as researchers work to develop better treatments, Wadhwani said another challenge is identifying people with kidney disease before substantial damage has occurred.
Glomerular diseases can develop with few or no noticeable symptoms. Some patients first learn something is wrong when routine blood or urine tests reveal an abnormality. Many may not see a kidney specialist until the disease has already progressed.
By the time symptoms present, patients may have lost a significant amount of kidney function, which cannot be recovered. That makes early detection and referral to a kidney specialist especially important.
Wadhwani said primary care providers can play an important role by recognizing abnormal urine and blood test results and referring patients for further evaluation. Greater awareness among both healthcare providers and the public is also needed.
With new treatment options available for some glomerular diseases, identifying patients earlier could make a meaningful difference in their care.
Although IgA nephropathy has demonstrated what successful research and drug development can accomplish, many other glomerular diseases still have no FDA-approved treatments or have limited treatment options.
Wadhwani hopes the Galveston summit will help researchers build on that progress and find ways to make clinical trials more effective, efficient, and accessible.