Author information
1 Hepatology Division, Clementino Fraga Filho University Hospital, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2 School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
3 Hepatology Division, General Hospital of Santa Casa do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
4 Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA.
Abstract
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease in Western countries. At present the safest and most effective first-line therapy for the management of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is lifestyle modification with diet and exercise. However, long-term adherence to lifestyle modification is rare in the target population, leading to progression of liver disease and its complications such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Thus, new drugs that focus mainly on the pathogenesis of NASH to target inflammation and fibrogenesis are under investigation. This mini-review summarizes the results of pivotal finalized phase 2 studies, and provide an outline of ongoing phase 2 and phase 3 studies.