FLINT Trial Shows Promising Results for NASH Treatment

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Live health is important for better lifestyle and recently it has been announced that a new experimental drug that was aimed at treating common liver disease has been able to improve liver health.

The experimental drug showed promised results in a multicenter clinical trial funded by National Institute of Health. According to the FLINT study it was found that people that suffered from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (also known as NASH) who took obeticholic acid (OCA) saw improvement in their liver health during that period. The patient also saw decrease in inflammation and fat in the liver and reduction in body weight.

Many health experts believe that NASH is a common and quite serious disease that currently has no approved treatment or medication. However, 45% of the people that consumed OCA saw improvement in the liver health against 21% that were in the placebo group. Although OCA does not eliminate the liver disease in FLINT participants it has demonstrated a promising effect. Currently, FLINT study program involved 283 people in eight centers across the country. The study was double-blinded so none of the participants or investigators knew which person belonged to which group. The FLINT trial also represents an important advance for the treatment of NASH in the future. However, there needs to be larger studies that will determine the safety and efficacy of the drug and to check if it can resolve the cholesterol problems as the trials indicated that the drug increased LDL cholesterol in the participants while decreasing the HDL cholesterol levels.