EASD 2026: PDGN Brings the Parliamentary Voice to Milan
October 27, 2026
The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) held its annual meeting in Milan from 28 September to 2 October 2026, bringing together researchers and clinicians from around the world. This year, the Parliamentarians for Diabetes Global Network was present with its own booth, creating a space where scientific evidence and political leadership could meet.
During the meeting, Professor Francesco Giorgino, President of EASD, visited the PDGN booth and was welcomed by Sir Michael Hirst. Direct dialogue of this kind matters: when the scientific community and legislators speak to each other, evidence reaches the people who write budgets and laws more quickly.
The science presented in Milan underlined why that dialogue is needed. Eli Lilly presented the TRIUMPH-2 trial of retatrutide, a once weekly medicine acting on three hormone pathways, published simultaneously in The Lancet. Over 80 weeks in 1,152 people living with obesity and type 2 diabetes, participants lost up to 20.8 per cent of body weight, compared with 4.0 per cent on placebo, and HbA1c fell by up to 1.6 points. Lilly plans to submit to the Food and Drug Administration in the first quarter of 2027.
Lilly also presented ACHIEVE-4, the largest and longest study of orforglipron, a once daily oral GLP1 medicine, in 2,749 people across 16 countries. Orforglipron met its cardiovascular safety goal against insulin glargine, with a 16 per cent lower risk of major cardiovascular events and produced greater reductions in HbA1c and body weight. Separately, Novo Nordisk announced in September that CagriSema produced 12.4 per cent weight loss at 60 weeks in people with type 2 diabetes, compared with 9.1 per cent for tirzepatide 5 mg. These advances will change lives only if people can obtain them. Pricing, reimbursement and procurement decisions are made by governments, and parliamentarians are among the few actors able to ask, publicly and on the record, who will have access and when.
○ ADVOCACY ACTION FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS
Parliamentarians should ask their health ministries and health technology assessment bodies how they are preparing for new treatments such as once weekly insulin, oral GLP1 medicines and new incretin therapies, and press for pricing and reimbursement decisions based on clinical need rather than ability to pay. Engaging directly with the scientific community, as PDGN did in Milan, helps legislators bring the latest evidence into national debates.