Akero Therapeutic Doubles After Strong Results From Liver Drug
In 2015, an estimated 16.5M Americans suffered from a chronic liver condition called MASH (formerly NASH), which can lead to inflammation, scarring, and failure of the organ. Thankfully, the ~1 in 20 American adults affected by this disease might soon have some reprieve, courtesy of Akero Therapeutics. On Monday, the company’s stock nearly doubled after results from its new treatment demonstrated standard-of-care potential.
- In a study of patients with “compensated cirrhosis” of the liver, Akero’s drug efruxifermin was shown to reverse liver scarring — marking the first study in which cirrhosis was reversed.
- The results are remarkable, especially since the treatment flunked its primary endpoint in a 36-week trial held in 2023, but at least one more clinical study is required before consideration by the FDA.
MASHing it up: These findings are encouraging for people with advanced cases of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which the National Institutes of Health (NIH) forecasts a 63% rise in diagnoses of the disease between 2015 and 2030. It was thought with the advent of GLP-1 drugs, that the need for MASH-specific medications would be unnecessary, but with the promise of reversing cirrhosis on the table, investors see new potential. Exfruxifermin, designed to mimic a naturally occurring protein hormone called FGF21, is also being trialed for treating type 2 diabetes.
