A popular drug used to treat obesity and diabetes can also help treat a type of fatty liver disease, according to new research.
According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, semaglutide may also reverse signs of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Semaglutide, sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, treated the disease in about two-thirds of patients in the trial.
MASH, formerly known as NASH, is an advanced stage of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease caused by fat buildup, leading to inflammation, scarring, and sometimes liver failure or cancer. MASH is commonly associated with obesity and frequently occurs alongside type 2 diabetes.
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Around 800 patients with MASH and moderate or advanced liver fibrosis took part in the trial. After 72 weeks, 63 per cent of patients who took semaglutide once per week saw improvements in both inflammation and scarring in the liver, compared with about 34.3 per cent of those who got the placebo or dummy treatment.
About 37% of the semaglutide group saw improvements in their fibrosis, compared with 22.4% in the placebo group. The semaglutide group also saw other benefits, including a 10.5% average weight loss.
The study results are “hugely exciting,” said Dr Debbie Shawcross, a professor of hepatology and chronic liver failure at King’s College London in the UK and vice secretary general of the European Association for the Study of the Liver. She also said that it is too early to tell whether semaglutide could be a “game-changer” for MASH patients, but that it is “certainly a powerful tool.”
