A new study from the University of Barcelona suggests a promising way to treat fatty liver disease using medicines that already exist.
Researchers found that two drugs, pemafibrate and telmisartan, can greatly reduce fat in the liver in animal studies. When used together, they not only improved liver health but also helped lower the risk of heart-related problems.
During the study, led by Professor Marta Alegret and involving several research groups from Spain and Sweden, researchers tested pemafibrate (a drug that lowers fat in the blood) and telmisartan (a blood pressure medicine). Pemafibrate is currently used in Japan, while telmisartan is used worldwide. They used these drugs for the study as people with fatty liver disease often also have high blood pressure and cholesterol, which increases heart risk.
"We have focused on these phases to prevent the disease from progressing to more severe stages. But for a drug to be used in these early stages, it must have a good safety profile in humans," explained Marta Alegret. "That is why we have studied drugs already on the market for other pathologies, which are very safe and could have a potential benefit in the treatment of MASLD," she adds.
To study the effects, scientists tested the drugs on rats and zebrafish. The results showed that the combination of the two drugs reduced liver fat caused by an unhealthy diet. In rats, even half doses of both drugs together worked as well as a full dose of either drug alone.
Besides improving liver health, the study suggested that the treatment may also help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, which could reduce the risk of heart disease.
"In order to be translated into a treatment for MASLD patients, clinical studies would be needed to show that the benefits observed in animal models also occur in humans," said Alegret.
"In addition, we will develop a dual model involving liver fibrosis and cardiovascular disease to see if the beneficial action is observed not only in the liver, but also in the reduction of atherosclerosis," she added.
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