Research
Hormonal
Obeticholic acid (25 mg/day) significantly improves NASH histology and fibrosis in non-cirrhotic patients, but is associated with pruritus and adverse lipid changes.
Obeticholic acid (25 mg daily for 72 weeks) significantly improves liver inflammation and scarring in non-cirrhotic NASH patients. However, it causes itching in nearly a quarter of users and can negatively impact cholesterol levels. It is a potent option but requires careful monitoring for side effects.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Histological improvement was seen in 45% of patients treated with OCA compared with 21% of those treated with placebo (p=0.0002). ... The main side effect of OCA was pruritus, noted in 23% of OCA-treated patients and requiring intervention or treatment discontinuation in several patients.
Why this rating
Based on the FLINT phase IIb RDBPCT showing statistically significant histological improvement.
Source
Current and upcoming pharmacotherapy for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Yaron Rotman et al. · Gut · 2016
DOI 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-312431
narrative_reviewCited 403×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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