Liraglutide treatment is more effective at resolving NASH than placebo, according to the results of the LEAN phase II clinical trial published in The Lancet. Patients with NASH were randomly assigned to receive liraglutide or placebo for 48 weeks. Nine of 23 patients (39%) receiving liraglutide had resolution of NASH confirmed by liver biopsy at the end of study, compared with two of 22 patients (9%) receiving placebo. Fibrosis progression was seen in only two of the patients treated with liraglutide compared with eight patients in the placebo group. Liraglutide was well tolerated, but gastrointestinal adverse events, including diarrhoea, loss of appetite and constipation, were more common in the treatment group than the placebo group.
References
Armstrong, M. J. et al. Liraglutide safety and efficacy in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (LEAN): a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 2 study. Lancet 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00803-X
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Thomas, H. A new treatment to LEAN on?. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 13, 2 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2015.207
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2015.207