MASH

Readouts from Novo Nordisk and Viking Therapeutics at AASLD 2024 strengthen the argument for GLP-1 therapies as an emerging backbone of MASH treatment, with the potential to combine it with other drug classes to achieve deeper responses, according to BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman.
Boston Pharma’s once-monthly injection efimosfermin alfa offers a convenient dosing option for MASH patients while also achieving promising rates of fibrosis and MASH improvement, according to a Phase II readout.
In our anniversary episode, we discuss a rare earnings miss for Eli Lilly, a pivotal metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis victory for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, growing excitement about CAR Ts for autoimmune disease and the ongoing controversy over HeLa cells.
In part 1 of the pivotal ESSENCE trial, Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug Wegovy demonstrated “statistically significant and superior improvement” in liver fibrosis in patients with metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis.
An unusual placebo effect in Aligos Therapeutics’ Phase IIa trial is driving shareholder skepticism for its metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis candidate, according to Jefferies analyst Michael Yee.
While type 2 diabetes and obesity are the primary conditions currently treated with blockbuster GLP-1 drugs, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly aim to enter additional markets.

Seeking to target the lucrative obesity market, Merck is focusing its R&D efforts on next-generation GLP-1 therapies that offer additional benefits beyond weight loss, according to company executives.
Lilly’s tirzepatide achieved an absence of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis without the worsening of fibrosis in more than 50% of patients in a mid-stage study, the company reported Saturday.
Both Eli Lilly and the partnered companies Boehringer Ingelheim and Zealand Pharma have mid-stage data readouts this week, fueling the race in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.
Boehringer Ingelheim is paying $35 million in upfront and near-term fees to work with Ochre Bio to identify and validate regenerative targets for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and other chronic liver diseases.
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