First Drug for Fatty Liver Disease May Hit Shelves by Year’s End
May2019 - Source: Medicalpress.com
High rates of liver disease progression and mortality observed in patients with NAFLD/NASH
Two independent national studies have reported high rates of liver disease progression and mortality among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NAFLD/NASH). The studies reported today at The International Liver Congress 2019 in Vienna, Austria, found that within 10 years of diagnosis, up to 11% of patients with NAFLD/NASH had progressed to advanced liver diseases (defined as NAFLD/NASH patients with compensated cirrhosis [CC], decompensated cirrhosis [DCC], liver transplant [LT] or hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]), and up to 27% of patients with NAFLD/NASH and CC had developed liver decompensation.
Read the full article here.
High rates of liver disease progression and mortality observed in patients with NAFLD/NASH
Two independent national studies have reported high rates of liver disease progression and mortality among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NAFLD/NASH). The studies reported today at The International Liver Congress 2019 in Vienna, Austria, found that within 10 years of diagnosis, up to 11% of patients with NAFLD/NASH had progressed to advanced liver diseases (defined as NAFLD/NASH patients with compensated cirrhosis [CC], decompensated cirrhosis [DCC], liver transplant [LT] or hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]), and up to 27% of patients with NAFLD/NASH and CC had developed liver decompensation.
Read the full article here.
First Drug for Fatty Liver Disease May Hit Shelves by Year’s End
March 2019 - Source: Healthline.com
Intercept Pharmaceuticals officials say their new drug performed well in a phase III clinical trial, so they’ll ask for FDA approval.
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a type of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, is a tough condition to live with — namely because there are no drugs on the market designed to treat it.
That could soon change, however, if a pharmaceutical company is able to push a new drug onto pharmacy shelves.
Intercept Pharmaceuticals, a company known for developing treatments for chronic liver diseases, announced earlier this month that they’ve successfully completed a phase III trial of the REGENERATE study.
The goal? Creating a drug designed to treat NASH as well as liver fibrosis.
Intercept Pharmaceuticals officials say their new drug performed well in a phase III clinical trial, so they’ll ask for FDA approval.
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a type of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, is a tough condition to live with — namely because there are no drugs on the market designed to treat it.
That could soon change, however, if a pharmaceutical company is able to push a new drug onto pharmacy shelves.
Intercept Pharmaceuticals, a company known for developing treatments for chronic liver diseases, announced earlier this month that they’ve successfully completed a phase III trial of the REGENERATE study.
The goal? Creating a drug designed to treat NASH as well as liver fibrosis.
Some impressions of the 2nd Global NASH Congress 2019 in London UK, 25-26 February
19 March 2019 - Prof. dr. Joost Hoekstra
The large inter-individual difference in progression of NAFLD to NASH was stressed by Cynthia Moylan, Duke University, Texas, USA. How to explain this difference? A help in predicting disease progression appeared to be the determining of DNA methylation, as was performed in a child cohort. More research, however, is necessary before a firm prediction model can be established.
Several speakers discussed the potential benefit of weight loss in NAFLD patients. Does losing weight really help? Unfortunately, no new data were available. So, we have to stick to reviews such as the one by Romero-Gomez (J.Hepatol. 2017) concluding that a 10 % weight reduction can induce a resolution of NASH and probably diminish fibrosis with one stage. The Mediterranean diet including reduced carbohydrate intake (especially sugars) and increased intake of monounsaturated fat and omega-3 fatty acids might reduce liver fat even without weight loss. All speakers stressed to enormous burden for the patients to considerably lose weight.
Is there a causal relation between NASH and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or is there only an association? Quite a relevant question. This topic was discussed in depth in a round table. It was concluded that we cannot establish causality unless there are results of well designed, prospective long lasting trials with effective drugs.
The large inter-individual difference in progression of NAFLD to NASH was stressed by Cynthia Moylan, Duke University, Texas, USA. How to explain this difference? A help in predicting disease progression appeared to be the determining of DNA methylation, as was performed in a child cohort. More research, however, is necessary before a firm prediction model can be established.
Several speakers discussed the potential benefit of weight loss in NAFLD patients. Does losing weight really help? Unfortunately, no new data were available. So, we have to stick to reviews such as the one by Romero-Gomez (J.Hepatol. 2017) concluding that a 10 % weight reduction can induce a resolution of NASH and probably diminish fibrosis with one stage. The Mediterranean diet including reduced carbohydrate intake (especially sugars) and increased intake of monounsaturated fat and omega-3 fatty acids might reduce liver fat even without weight loss. All speakers stressed to enormous burden for the patients to considerably lose weight.
Is there a causal relation between NASH and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or is there only an association? Quite a relevant question. This topic was discussed in depth in a round table. It was concluded that we cannot establish causality unless there are results of well designed, prospective long lasting trials with effective drugs.
