The Story Behind STATBOLIC
Jingyi Liu (Eli Lilly), Henrik Ravn (Novo Nordisk), Yun Wang (FDA), Ying Wei (Columbia), Thomas Liu (Amgen), Imola Fodor (Genentech), Melanie Wright (Novartis), Hiya Banerjee (Eli Lilly)
In today’s world—where Incretin drugs are dominating headlines and transforming the treatment landscape—a question echoed:
“Why don’t we have a platform for cardiometabolic health like we do for oncology—somewhere we can openly share research questions and challenges in drug development?”
That question lit a spark.
What started as an informal conversation quickly grew into something more. On a crisp January day, a group of statisticians—representing academia, industry, and regulatory agencies—came together to explore the idea. Could we build a community, a space dedicated to advancing statistical science in cardiometabolic health?
But of course, the big question was still ahead of us:
“How do we pull off a conference from scratch? How do we get people involved?”
The first step: forming an advisory committee. A passionate, cross-sector team—academia, FDA, and industry—united by a shared vision. Together, we began to define the mission and scope of this budding initiative. We needed a name that captured the essence of what we were building. That’s when one of our members suggested:
“STATBOLIC”—a blend of statistics and cardiometabolic.
It clicked. And just like that, STATBOLIC was born.
We then expanded our team by forming a Scientific Program Committee—12 incredible individuals from academia, FDA, EMA, and industry. Their task: to shape the scientific content of our very first conference. As plans solidified, we also knew we needed a long-term home. That’s when the ASA Biopharmaceutical Section welcomed us as an official scientific working group. With their support, and the help of the ASA Meeting Planning Group, we were ready to bring STATBOLIC to life.
The program focused on two core themes:
Future research directions in trial designs for complex, interrelated indications within metabolic health. How can we build robust, efficient designs that accelerate development and deliver treatments to patients faster?
Disease-specific challenges, including:
Statistical challenges in cardiovascular, kidney, and liver diseases
Challenges in evaluating weight reduction treatments
Over 125 participants joined us—statisticians, scientists, researchers, and leaders from across the ecosystem. We were honored to host Dr. Arun Sanyal (Director, Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health, Virginia Commonwealth University) as our keynote speaker and a thought-provoking fireside chat with panelists from the drug development world. Presenters came from both academia and industry, bringing diverse perspectives to the table.
The interest and engagement reaffirmed what we felt from the beginning: there was a need. STATBOLIC wasn’t just a one-time event. It was the beginning of a community. A platform.
We’re thrilled to share that STATBOLIC will return in 2026, with our next conference to be held in Washington, DC.
This wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible support from everyone involved—our participants, speakers, organizers, and especially our sponsors: Amgen, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and ASA Biopharm. We are truly grateful for your belief in this effort.
We’ll be sharing updates and save-the-date reminders soon. In the meantime, you can check out the program agenda from our 2025 conference on our website STATBOLIC 2025 - Biopharmaceutical Section (https://community.amstat.org/biop/events/statbolic).
We can't wait to see you next year!
