Fatty liver disease is linked to obesity and may affect up to 1 in 4 people worldwide A new, powerful form of GLP-1 drug appears to help resolve the illness for many The drug does come with side effects common to this class MONDAY, June 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental 'supercharged' form of popular GLP-1 weight-loss meds could help ease fatty liver disease, a new trial suggests. The drug under development, survodutide, helped up to 83% of patients gain real improvements in markers of fatty liver disease, a widespread and potentially lethal condition often linked to obesity. Right now, there's only one drug, resmetirom , approved by the U.
S. Food and Drug Administration to fight fatty liver disease, and not all patients can use it. Survodutide "could be a game-changer" against the illness, said study lead researcher Dr.
Arun Sanyal . He directs the Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health and is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond. The trial was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim, the drug company developing survodutide.
Results were published June 7 in the New England Journal of Medicine . Fatty liver disease is shorthand for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). According to a news release from VCU, about 1 in every 4 people globally are affected by the condition.
A healthy liver has a fat content of just 5% or less by weight, but in MASH fat can rise to unhealthy levels that put people at risk.