Recently, there has been a significant development on the horizon in the field of liver disease research. Scientists have identified a potential new treatment that holds the potential to transform the way we approach liver disease management.
FDA-Approved Therapies
Scientists found that Pegozafermin, a drug that acts like a hormone in the body, helped (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis) NASH patients with liver fibrosis and inflammation. Currently, there are no treatments for NASH, a common and often silent liver disease, that the FDA has approved.
Scientists found a promising new drug during a nationwide, multi-center clinical trial that reduced liver scarring in NASH patients by 27 percent.
Scientists from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have led a study on a possible treatment for people with fibrosis caused by NASH.
The results show that a drug that acts like a hormone in the body helped both liver scarring (called “liver fibrosis”) and liver inflammation in people with NASH.
Rohit Loomba, MD, the study’s first author and head of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, was the study’s main researcher. Health at UC San Diego
Rohit Loomba, MD, the study’s first author and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at UC San Diego School of Medicine, says, “Finding an effective drug for NASH is very exciting for patients because there are no FDA-approved treatments for this condition right now. NASH can make people’s lives worse and can lead to cirrhosis. Its side effects can cause death or the need for a liver transplant.
Our results will help scientists learn more about this disease and may give people with NASH-related fibrosis a new way to treat it.”
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Pegozafermin (Fibroblast Growth Factor 21)
The researchers found that the drug Pegozafermin acted like a natural hormone called fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), made by the