PSS has been involved in the international HG research community since 2015 when four of our trustees attended the first International Colloquium on HG in Bergen, Norway. At that meeting we were excited to meet scientists, clinicians and other patient organisations from around the world who had the same interest and passion as we did in finding out what causes HG and how to better treat it. From those connections arose the ICHG – the International Conference in HG. PSS were integrally involved in creating ICHG and supporting its development. We organised the second international conference in Windsor in 2017 and from there ICHG has developed into a biennial conference.
So we are excited to be going back to Bergen where it all started over 10 years ago. This year there will be a large contingent in attendance including trustees Dr Shazia Zafar and Dr Margaret O’Hara, plus a large number of our Medical Advisory Board including Prof Catherine Nelson-Piercy, Dr Melanie Nanna, Marie Mitchell and Suzanne Blythin. Shazia, Catherine and Melanie will be presenting at the conference, continuing the tradition of at least one (usually more) PSS representative presenting at every international HG conference.
Since Bergen 2015 a lot has happened in HG research. Developments in genetics, along with understandings from the fields of obesity and diabetes research, have led to an understanding of the underlying cause of pregnancy sickness. We now know that pregnancy sickness is caused by an oversensitivity to the placental protein GDF 15 and that HG is linked to genetic differences in both the GDF 15 gene and the receptor molecule gene GFRAL.
These discoveries have opened up a whole new world of opportunities to develop effective treatments or preventative measures. We have had NGM Bio’s EMERALD study running in the UK over the past two years and still ongoing. This is a phase 2 trial to test a monoclonal antibody which would block the action of GDF 15. PSS have been partners in this study providing patient involvement input and we await the results with great anticipation.
There have also been studies to investigate the use of the diabetes drug metformin as a preventative. This comes out of the discovery that women with HG have lower levels of GDF 15 in their blood prior to pregnancy and this makes them more sensitive to the very high concentrations which are produced by the placenta in the first few weeks. Metformin causes GDF 15 levels to rise, this is why nausea is a common side effect of the drug. Scientists wondered whether taking metformin before pregnancy could get the body used to GDF 15 and prevent HG. There are intriguing results from some small studies which indicate that this could be a possibility and larger trials are being planned.
ICHG is unusual amongst medical conferences in that patient-led organisations have been co-organisers and have been integrally involved in developing the conference programme and steering the research since its inception. This includes significant numbers of researchers with lived experience who have driven the research agenda. PSS is extremely proud to have been a leader in that tradition and we can’t wait to meet our international friends at Bergen 2026.
