Analytics firm Target RWE has published its findings that 99% of participants in TARGET-NASH, a research registry of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) within academic and community real-world practices, meet the new metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) diagnostic criteria.
MASLD replaced NAFLD, the former umbrella term for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in June 2023.
The American Association of Liver Diseases was among the groups that were part of the Nomenclature Development Initiative, which was focused on ensuring the global community had better nomenclature that could be used around the world so that the research and funding could be better directed to save more people’s lives.
Metabolic-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is a condition that causes inflammation and liver cell damage, which is often associated with the accumulation of fat in the liver. In contrast to simple fatty liver, it can develop into more severe conditions including cirrhosis and liver cancer. Last year, MASH also replaced the term NASH.
The American Journal of Gastroenterology publication, analysed 5,745 adult patients in the cohort from 47 academic and 18 community practice centres in the US.
"Our findings validate the accuracy and relevance of the TARGET-NASH cohort definitions,” said A. Sidney Barritt IV, professor of medicine, director of hepatology, and transplant hepatology program director at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.
“The liver community can be assured that the adoption of the MASLD nomenclature will not disrupt ongoing research on disease natural history, biomarker development, or therapeutic interventions for patients originally classified under the legacy definitions for MASL, MASH and MASH cirrhosis from TARGET-NASH."
Boehringer Ingelheim and Zealand Pharma recently published data from its Phase II trial (NCT04771273) sub-analysis which showed that its GLP-1/glucagon receptor dual agonist survodutide has significantly improved liver fibrosis in patients with MASH.
