Scientists from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have been studying a possible new treatment for a liver disease called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH for short.
They found that a drug that acts like a body hormone improved both liver scarring and inflammation in patients with NASH.
The Importance of this Study
“Finding a drug that works for NASH is a big deal. Right now, there are no approved treatments for this condition,” said Dr. Rohit Loomba, who led the study.
NASH can make life really tough for patients and can get worse over time, leading to liver cirrhosis. It can cause complications that can lead to death or needing a liver transplant.
“Our findings are good news for people affected by NASH. They could potentially have a new treatment option,” added Dr. Loomba.
What’s This New Drug?
The drug the researchers studied is called pegozafermin. It acts like fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), a hormone that the liver naturally makes.
FGF21 controls how the body uses energy and how the liver breaks down fats. Previous studies have shown that it can lower blood sugar and insulin levels, reduce body weight, and decrease liver fat.
How Well Did The Drug Work?
Dr. Loomba explained that the study’s results show that this potential treatment can improve liver scarring, inflammation, and liver injury. It also showed good results for several signs of NASH activity and scarring.
In a 24-week clinical trial involving 222 people with NASH, patients either got the drug or a placebo. For the patients who got a higher dose of the drug, about 27% had improved liver scarring.
This is in comparison to just 7% of the patients who got the placebo. The drug’s most common side effect was gastrointestinal issues, like feeling sick to the stomach.
More About NASH
Right now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved any medicines for treating NASH. This disease is a type of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
According to the National Institutes of Health, around 24% of adults in the U.S. have NAFLD, and about 6% have NASH.
These diseases often don’t have any symptoms, but people who are overweight, have type 2 diabetes, or have a family member with NAFLD are at higher risk. NAFLD can cause liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure.
What’s Next?
The researchers are now planning a larger, international trial with more diverse patients and a longer treatment period. This will help them better understand the safety of the drug.
“If this drug proves to be safe and effective in a bigger trial, it could be used to treat millions of patients with NASH, including our patients at UC San Diego Health,” Dr. Loomba said. This is indeed a glimmer of hope for those affected by this condition.
If you care about liver health, please read studies about dairy foods linked to liver cancer, and coffee drinkers may halve their risk of liver cancer.
For more information about liver health, please see recent studies about new therapy for fatty liver disease, and results showing Mediterranean diet could cut fatty liver disease by half.
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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