It’s another promising result from one of the dozens of bio-pharmaceutical companies trying to find treatments for fatty liver disease. Viking Therapeutics announced results from an early study of NAFLD patients that exceeded expectations yesterday, sending the stock soaring 122%.
Ten milligrams of the therapy was shown by MRI to cut liver fat by 57 percent when taken every other day and by 60 percent when taken once a day. Results from the 12-week study across both doses showed liver fat was cut by roughly 30 percent or more in roughly 83 percent of patients, compared to 18 percent with the placebo.
This is encouraging news, but obviously like many of the other promising trials is far away from being readily available. The NAFLD/NASH treatment market is expected to be a $40 billion industry by 2025, so there are no shortage of companies exploring similar treatments. In fact one of the biggest obstacles that these companies face is finding enough NAFLD/NASH patients to enroll in the studies.
Still, we can’t rely on medical treatments alone to be the solution for NAFLD & NASH. Ultimately we have to not only treat the symptoms but the disease, which starts with diet & exercise and focusing on the potential genetic/biological causes of liver fat buildup.
