The worldwide epidemics of obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, dyslipidaemia, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)/metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) represent a major economic burden on healthcare systems. Patients with at-risk MASH, defined as MASH with moderate or significant fibrosis, are at higher risk of comorbidity/mortality, with a significant risk of cardiovascular diseases and/or major adverse liver outcomes. Despite a high unmet medical need, there is only one drug approved for MASH. Several drug candidates have reached the phase III development stage and could lead to several potential conditional drug approvals in the coming years. Within the armamentarium of future treatment options, FGF21 analogues hold an interesting position thanks to their pleiotropic effects in addition to their significant effect on both MASH resolution and fibrosis improvement. In this review, we summarise preclinical and clinical data from FGF21 analogues for MASH and explore additional potential therapeutic indications.
Keyphrases
- type diabetes
- healthcare
- phase iii
- cardiovascular disease
- oxidative stress
- insulin resistance
- adverse drug
- clinical trial
- molecular docking
- metabolic syndrome
- liver fibrosis
- cardiovascular events
- stem cells
- glycemic control
- risk factors
- single molecule
- weight gain
- adipose tissue
- skeletal muscle
- machine learning
- coronary artery disease
- drug induced
- mesenchymal stem cells
- risk assessment
- emergency department
- structure activity relationship
- health information
- cardiovascular risk factors
- molecular dynamics simulations
- phase ii
- drug administration