Julie Russell and Adam Pett, Associate Directors at Inizio Evoke, recently attended EASD 2026. From GLP-1 therapies and diabetes technology to nutrition and women’s health, the team shares six takeaways on what could shape the future of diabetes and metabolic care.
Diabetes sits at a fascinating intersection of medicines, technology and lifestyle. And at EASD 2026, what stood out wasn’t one breakthrough, but the growing breadth of innovation — and a stronger focus on what it means for people living with these conditions.
1. There’s more to diabetes innovation than GLP-1s
The pace of innovation in obesity and metabolic disease is extraordinary. GLP-1 therapies continue to dominate headlines, with new combinations, mechanisms and indications expanding their potential.
But there is plenty happening beyond GLP-1s.
Insulin remains fundamental to diabetes care, while advances in delivery, automated insulin systems and glucose-responsive technologies continue to change how the condition is managed.
Progress in islet cell therapies is particularly exciting. Emerging stem-cell-derived approaches are exploring the potential to restore insulin production in people with type 1 diabetes — with potentially transformative implications.
The excitement around GLP-1s is justified. But it shouldn’t overshadow the breadth of innovation across diabetes care.
2. Treatment success needs to reflect real life
“Feel. Function. Survive.”
Three words from Professor Katherine Tuttle.
Traditionally treatment success measurement is through clinical endpoints such as HbA1c, weight reduction, cardiovascular events and mortality. These matter enormously, but they don’t tell us everything about living with a chronic condition.
Can someone work, exercise, manage fatigue or simply enjoy everyday life?
It was encouraging to hear more discussion around physical function, treatment burden and patient experience as meaningful measures of success.
Improving clinical outcomes and improving people’s lives should be inseparable ambitions.
3. Diabetes technology is moving beyond type 1
Technologies traditionally associated with type 1 diabetes are increasingly finding a role in type 2 diabetes.
Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), for example, is expanding into broader type 2 care, offering new ways to understand glucose patterns and responses to food, activity and treatment.
Emerging ketone monitoring and AI-powered insights could take this further, creating opportunities for more personalized and proactive support.
The potential lies in connecting medicines, technology and lifestyle interventions. But more data doesn’t automatically create better outcomes. The real challenge is turning it into support that is accessible, meaningful and actionable.
4. Nutrition could be the next big metabolic health conversation
Given nutrition’s importance in diabetes and metabolic health, it received little attention compared with pharmacological innovation.
That may change.
As obesity treatments drive more substantial weight loss, questions around muscle preservation, nutritional adequacy, long-term metabolic health and sustainable behavior change will become increasingly important.
Nutrition also extends far beyond supporting pharmacotherapy. It has a fundamental role in prevention, disease management and long-term health.
There is a major opportunity to better connect nutritional science, medicine and technology — and turn that knowledge into practical support people can use.
5. Metabolic health demands more connected care
Diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and liver disease are deeply interconnected. They share risk factors and biological pathways and frequently affect the same people.
At EASD 2026, that interconnectedness was increasingly reflected in conversations about testing, referrals, multidisciplinary care and earlier identification of complications. The Metabologia Symposium in particular, encouraged the audience to think beyond single-organ trial endpoints and aim for broader multi-organ research to facilitate a move towards 'metabolic medicine'.
The science is becoming more connected. Now care needs to follow.
That means looking beyond individual diagnoses and considering the whole person — their risks, comorbidities, treatment burden and experience of healthcare.
6. Women’s health needs a bigger place in the conversation
Women’s metabolic health changes throughout life, shaped by hormonal transitions, reproductive health and aging.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) illustrates the close relationship between reproductive and metabolic health. Gestational diabetes can signal future type 2 diabetes risk, while menopause can bring changes in body composition, insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular risk.
There are also important questions about how sex and gender influence disease presentation, treatment experience and access to care.
The opportunity isn’t simply to develop more women-specific interventions. It’s to embed a better understanding of women’s health throughout metabolic research, prevention and clinical practice.
A life-course approach could help identify risks earlier, support people through key transitions and enable more personalized care.
The bigger picture from EASD 2026
Our biggest takeaway from EASD 2026 is that diabetes innovation is broadening — across science and technology, but also in our understanding of what successful treatment should deliver.
Medicines, technology and lifestyle interventions each have enormous potential. It’s how they come together that could make the greatest difference.
There is still a gap between scientific possibility and what can be delivered consistently in clinical practice. But the growing focus on patient experience, interconnected disease and individual needs feels like meaningful progress.
Because ultimately, the value of innovation isn’t just what it can change in a clinical trial. It’s what it can change in someone’s life.
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