Pharmacotherapy for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Emerging Targets and Drug Candidates

• Published in: Biomedicines Vol. 10; no. 2; p. 274
• Main Authors: Prikhodko, Veronika A, Bezborodkina, Natalia N, Okovityi, Sergey V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 26-01-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Biopsy; Cholesterol; chronic liver disease; Clinical trials; Drug development; Drug dosages; Drug therapy; Fatty acids; Fatty liver; FDA approval; hepatoprotection; Histology; Inflammation; Lipids; Liver diseases; metabolic disorders; Metabolism; Metabolites; non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; Review; Thyroid gland; metabolic disorders; chronic liver disease; non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; hepatoprotection; non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
• ISSN: 2227-9059; 2227-9059
• DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10020274

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), or metabolic (dysfunction)-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), is characterized by high global incidence and prevalence, a tight association with common metabolic comorbidities, and a substantial risk of progression and associated mortality. Despite the increasingly high medical and socioeconomic burden of NAFLD, the lack of approved pharmacotherapy regimens remains an unsolved issue. In this paper, we aimed to provide an update on the rapidly changing therapeutic landscape and highlight the major novel approaches to the treatment of this disease. In addition to describing the biomolecules and pathways identified as upcoming pharmacological targets for NAFLD, we reviewed the current status of drug discovery and development pipeline with a special focus on recent evidence from clinical trials.