A study from the University of Barcelona suggests pemafibrate, originally used for lipid disorders, might treat metabolic liver disease effectively, presenting a new use for the drug in combating this prevalent liver condition. A study led by the University of Barcelona suggests pemafibrate, a drug currently used in Japan to enhance blood lipid levels in hyperlipidemia patients, particularly diabetics, could be effective in treating liver disease linked to metabolic disorders. This type of liver disease is the most prevalent worldwide, affecting one in four individuals and currently lacks a specific treatment.
The study, carried out on laboratory animal models and published in the journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy , was conducted by a team led by Professor Juan Carlos Laguna, from the UB’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, the UB Institute of Biomedicine (IBUB) and the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBEROBN). The study has been carried out in collaboration with the research group of Professor Conxita Amat, from the Department of Biochemistry and Physiology of the same UB faculty, and the UB’s Nutrition and Food Safety Research Institute (INSA-UB), based at the Torribera Food Campus. Drug repurposing: a new life for medicines Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a condition formerly known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
It is a multisystem disorder, with a very heterogeneous ori.