Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), once called fatty liver disease, is now the most common liver condition worldwide.
It affects about one in three adults and happens when too much fat builds up in the liver.
This can lead to serious liver damage and a higher chance of dying from heart disease. Even though this disease is widespread, there are still very few safe and effective treatments available.
Now, researchers from the University of Barcelona may have found a promising way to treat it using two drugs that are already approved for other health problems.
The study, published in the journal Pharmacological Research, found that the drugs pemafibrate and telmisartan helped reduce fat buildup in the liver in animal models. When used together, the drugs also seemed to protect the heart and blood vessels.
This research was led by Professor Marta Alegret from the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences. The team worked with scientists from several hospitals and research centers in Spain and Sweden. Their goal was to find safer treatment options for the early stages of MASLD—when patients don’t yet show symptoms but are already at risk.
The idea behind their approach is called drug repurposing. Instead of creating brand-new medicines, researchers test existing drugs to see if they can help with other diseases. This method is often faster, cheaper, and safer, especially for treating early stages of diseases.
In the study, they tested the two drugs both separately and together. Pemafibrate is a cholesterol-lowering medicine currently approved only in Japan, while telmisartan is a common medication for high blood pressure. Many patients with MASLD also have high cholesterol and blood pressure, so these drugs could offer a double benefit.
To test their effects, the researchers first used rats with liver disease caused by a high-fat, high-sugar diet. Then they used zebrafish larvae as a second model. Zebrafish are useful for this kind of study because their liver and metabolism are similar to those of humans, and results can be obtained quickly and affordably.
The results were encouraging. The two drugs reversed liver fat buildup, and even low doses of both drugs used together worked as well as higher doses of either drug alone. This suggests that combining the medications might be more effective and cause fewer side effects.
Another benefit of the drug combo is that it also helped lower blood pressure and cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease. This is important because heart problems are a leading cause of death for people with MASLD.
The researchers also looked at how the drugs worked in the body. They found that each drug used a different method to reduce fat in the liver. For telmisartan, they discovered it helped restore the level of a protein called PCK1.
This protein helps shift the body’s focus from making fat to making glucose (sugar). Even though this could raise concerns about blood sugar levels, the study found that glucose levels stayed normal.
Even though the results look promising, the researchers caution that more work is needed before these drugs can be used in people with MASLD. Clinical trials in humans are needed to see if the benefits seen in animals also apply to patients.
They are also planning to test whether the drugs can help in more advanced stages of the disease, where scarring (fibrosis) is present.
In the future, the researchers hope to test the treatment in models that have both liver damage and heart disease, to see if the drugs can help with both conditions at the same time.
If you care about liver health, please read studies about a diet that can treat fatty liver disease and obesity, and coffee drinkers may halve their risk of liver cancer.
For more information about liver health, please see recent studies that anti-inflammatory diet could help prevent fatty liver disease, and results showing vitamin D could help prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
