At UNLOKall, we bring together leading voices shaping the future of patient care. Through our expert interviews, we explore real-world perspectives on emerging evidence, clinical practice, holistic approaches, and technology, helping healthcare professionals translate innovation into impact.
Meet the Expert
Dr. Banshi Saboo
Dr. Banshi Saboo recently participated in the live UNLOKall & Diabetes India webinar The CaReMeLO patient: Is a holistic approach better than an individual disease approach?. Watch the recording here.
Dr. Saboo is a leading diabetologist and Chairman of Diacare – Diabetes Care and Hormone Clinic, Ahmedabad. He serves as Chair of IDF–Southeast Asia, Global Council Member of EASD, Secretary of Diabetes India, and Vice President of DASG. Dr. Saboo co-founded D-Tech, T1eUp, and Diabetes Care India, and was honored as AACE Global Clinician of the Year 2024.
Holistic vs. Individual Disease Management
During the webinar, we discussed the advantages of a holistic approach to managing CaReMeLO patients. Could you elaborate on how a holistic approach can improve patient outcomes, particularly for those with multiple comorbidities like diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease?
A holistic approach to managing CaReMeLO patients improves outcomes because diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular, renal, and liver diseases are biologically interconnected.
Instead of treating each condition separately, an integrated strategy: Drivers like insulin resistance and inflammation, uses therapies with multi-system benefits (Semaglutide, Empagliflozin), focuses on overall cardiovascular and renal risk, not just glucose control, combines medication, lifestyle, behavioral, and educational support, and encourages multidisciplinary, coordinated care.
This results in fewer hospitalizations, slower disease progression, reduced cardiovascular events, and better quality of life, especially in patients with multiple comorbidities.
The Role of Primary Care Physicians
Primary care physicians play a critical role in coordinating care for CaReMeLO patients. From your perspective, what are the main challenges they face in managing these patients, and how can we better support them to improve patient outcomes?
Main challenges include clinical complexity: Managing diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular, renal, and liver disease together is time-intensive and guideline-heavy. Therapeutic inertia & polypharmacy: Balancing multiple drugs while initiating evidence-based agents like Semaglutide or Empagliflozin can be daunting. Fragmented specialist care: Poor coordination leads to duplication or conflicting plans. Limited consultation time & resources: Lifestyle counseling and risk assessment require more time than typical visits allow. Lastly, cost and access barriers for patients.
We can:
- Provide simplified, integrated CaReMeLO algorithms focused on overall cardiorenal risk.
- Enable multidisciplinary collaboration.
- Improve access to affordable cardioprotective therapies.
- Offer continuing medical education on cardiorenal-metabolic management.
- Integrate decision-support tools in EMRs to reduce therapeutic inertia.
New Therapeutic Challenges
How do you see new therapies, such as GLP-1 receptor agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors, addressing the growing challenges in managing diabetes and diabesity? What role do these therapies play in achieving better outcomes for patients with complex comorbidities?
Newer therapies like GLP-1 receptor agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors are reshaping diabetes and “diabesity” care because they go beyond glucose lowering.
GLP-1 receptor agonists like Semaglutide improve glycemic control, promote significant weight loss, reduce cardiovascular events, and may benefit liver health.
SGLT2 inhibitors like Empagliflozin provide cardiovascular protection, reduce heart failure hospitalizations, and slow chronic kidney disease progression.
In patients with complex comorbidities, these drugs target shared pathophysiology (insulin resistance, inflammation, cardiorenal stress), helping manage multiple conditions simultaneously.
Their role is central in shifting care from a glucose-centric approach to a cardiorenal-metabolic risk reduction strategy, ultimately improving survival, reducing hospitalizations, and enhancing quality of life.
Leveraging Digital Tools in Care
With the growing use of AI and digital health tools, which ones do you believe have the most potential to enhance diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of CaReMeLO patients? How do you see these tools being integrated into primary care?
AI and digital health tools have strong potential to transform CaReMeLO care, particularly in risk prediction, early diagnosis, and long-term monitoring.
- Continuous glucose monitoring platforms: Enable real-time glycemic insights and remote monitoring, improving diabetes and diabesity management.
- AI-driven risk stratification models: Predict cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic risk early, enabling proactive intervention rather than reactive treatment.
In primary care, these tools should act as decision amplifiers, not replacements, helping physicians deliver proactive, coordinated, and personalized cardiorenal-metabolic care while improving efficiency and outcomes.
Continuous Learning in a Fast-Moving Field
With AI, new therapies, and evolving guidelines, staying current can feel overwhelming. Why should clinicians attend sessions like this to stay up to date?
Clinicians should attend sessions like those at UNLOKall because they translate rapidly evolving AI tools, new therapies, and updated guidelines into practical, evidence-based strategies.
Clinicians today face rapidly evolving evidence, AI-driven tools, expanding indications for GLP-1 RAs and SGLT2 inhibitors, and continuously updated cardiometabolic guidelines. It can be overwhelming to translate all of this into practical, real-world care.
Attending platforms like UNLOKall helps as evidence is curated and distilled by global experts, saving time. You gain practical, case-based insights, exposure to cutting-edge AI, digital health, and technology innovations before they become mainstream. You hear multidisciplinary perspectives, and it supports networking, collaboration, and shared learning.
Learn from Dr. Banshi Saboo’s Expertise
The CaReMeLO patient: Is a holistic approach better than an individual disease approach?
Watch our one-hour, case-based webinar on-demand, exploring a holistic approach to managing diabetes, CKD, and cardiometabolic risk with expert guidance.