
Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy could help serious liver condition that has no cure-all treatment
ADVERTISEMENT
The key ingredient in blockbuster weight-loss drugs could help people manage a serious liver condition before it becomes life-threatening, a new trial has found.
The results, published on Wednesday in the
New England Journal of Medicine
, offer the latest evidence that weight loss drugs could help with a host of health issues beyond type 2 diabetes and obesity, which is what they're currently approved for in the European Union.
The drug, semaglutide, belongs to a class of medicines called GLP-1 receptor agonists, which work by suppressing people's appetites. But
research suggests
that they could also help with issues as wide-ranging as addiction, blood clotting, and dementia.
Now, the new study shows they could be a viable treatment for patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), which occurs when fat builds up in the liver and causes inflammation and scarring.
Related
France won't pay for weight loss drug Wegovy. What about other European countries?
If left untreated, it can progress to cirrhosis, which is advanced, irreversible liver damage. MASH isn't linked to alcohol, but it is tied to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.
'Hugely exciting' trial results
The late-stage clinical trial was funded by the drugmaker Novo Nordisk, which sells semaglutide as Ozempic and Wegovy. It included 800 patients with MASH and moderate or advanced liver fibrosis, or the build-up of scar tissue in the liver.
After 72 weeks, 33 per cent of patients who took semaglutide once per week saw improvements on both inflammation and scarring in the liver, compared with about 16 per cent of those who got the placebo or dummy treatment.
Considering inflammation and scarring separately, about 63 per cent of semaglutide-taking patients lowered their inflammation, and 37 per cent saw their scarring improve.
That's compared with about 34 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, in the placebo group.
People on semaglutide also lost 10.5 per cent of their body weight, on average.
The study results are 'hugely exciting,' said Dr Debbie Shawcross, a professor of hepatology and chronic liver failure at King's College London in the UK and vice secretary general of the European Association for the Study of the Liver.
Related
Blockbuster weight loss drugs could help with alcohol cravings, small new study suggests
But semaglutide might not get all the credit, because patients in both the drug and placebo groups also received lifestyle counselling and recommendations on how to manage their other health conditions.
About half of the study participants had type 2 diabetes, and about three in four were obese.
Shawcross said that because 34 per cent of people in the placebo group lowered their liver inflammation – without losing much weight – it suggests that lifestyle changes could also play a big part in helping people manage MASH.
'This is important as any therapy that is licensed for MASH with moderate to severe fibrosis must be used in conjunction with lifestyle interventions,' Shawcross, who was not involved in the new study, told Euronews Health.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the trial, patients taking semaglutide also experienced some side effects, such as nausea, diarrhoea, constipation, and vomiting. Adverse effects prompted 2.6 per cent of them to drop out of the study.
A potential new treatment for MASH
When Novo Nordisk published the trial's topline results in November 2024, the company said it would ask EU and US regulators to approve the drug for patients with MASH by mid-2025.
At the time, company executive Dr Martin Holst Lange said the medicine could help fill a 'significant unmet need' for patients with MASH.
A Novo Nordisk spokesperson did not respond to a Euronews Health request on Wednesday seeking an update on the timeline.
ADVERTISEMENT
Related
Weight loss drugs: New study sheds light on illegal online pharmacies selling Wegovy and Ozempic
No medicines have yet been approved to treat MASH in the EU, but others have also shown promise in recent years.
The drug resmetirom, for example, helped improve liver scarring in a late-stage trial published last year and has since been green-lit in the US.
It's still under consideration by EU regulators.
Shawcross said it is too early to tell whether semaglutide could be a 'game-changer' for MASH patients, but that it is 'certainly a powerful tool in the hepatologist's armamentarium if it is used in conjunction with lifestyle modification programmes'.
ADVERTISEMENT
She noted that many people who take weight-loss drugs don't make lifestyle changes that could help boost health outcomes if they wean off the medicines, which is a 'significant concern for us all'.
'There are many motivations for patients closely followed-up within trials to make positive adjustments to their lifestyles which may not be seen in the real world,' Shawcross said.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
'Day of the Jackal' author Frederick Forsyth dies at 86
Frederick Forsyth, the author of "The Day of the Jackal" and other bestselling thrillers, has died after a brief illness, his literary agent said on Monday. Jonathan Lloyd, his agent, said Forsyth died at home early on Monday at the age of 86 surrounded by his family. "We mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest thriller writers," Lloyd said. Forsyth served as a Royal Air Force pilot before becoming a foreign correspondent and a novelist. "The Day of the Jackal," published in 1971, propelled him to global fame. The political thriller about a professional assassin was made into a film in 1973 and more recently a television series starring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch. He wrote more than 25 books including "The Afghan," "The Kill List," and "The Fist of God" that have sold over 75 million copies, Lloyd said. The disparity of sperm donor laws in Europe has been called into question after a Danish sperm donor with an inherited cancer mutation is said to have helped conceive at least 67 children across Europe, mostly in Belgium. The European Sperm Bank (ESB) allegedly used gametes from a Danish donor who unknowingly carried a rare variation of the TP53 gene that increases the risk of early cancer. Out of the 67 children he helped to conceive, 23 of them are carriers of the variant, 10 of whom have developed cancer. The case was revealed at the end of May by Dr. Edwige Kasper, a biologist at Rouen University Hospital, at a meeting of the European Society of Human Genetics in Milan. "It's a syndrome called Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which will give rise to multiple cancers with a very broad spectrum, so children who are carriers of this variant need to be monitored very closely," the specialist in hereditary predispositions to cancer told Euronews. Of the 10 children who have developed a form of cancer, the doctor counts four haemopathies, four brain tumours and two types of sarcoma that affect the muscles. The case has highlighted the shortcomings of sperm donation policies across Europe. While most European countries limit the number of children fathered by a single donor, or the number of families that can be helped by a single donor, there is no limit at international or European level. The conditions around anonymity also vary from country to country. "We will end up with an abnormal spread of a genetic pathology, because the sperm bank involved in this case has set a limit of 75 families from the donor. Other sperm banks have not set a limit," explained Kasper. Although donors are subject to medical examinations and genetic tests, "there is no perfect pre-selection," explained Ayo Wahlberg, researcher and a member of the Danish Council on Ethics. "Technology is developing so fast. Genetic testing technologies and their costs are falling so fast that, if we compare 10 or 15 years ago and today in terms of recruitment and the types of genetic tests that can be carried out as part of the screening process, a lot has changed," the professor explained. The rules governing sperm donation vary from one European country to another. The maximum number of children from a single donor varies from 15 in Germany to one in Cyprus. Other countries prefer to limit the number of families that can use the same donor to give them the opportunity to have brothers and sisters. For example, the same donor can help 12 families in Denmark and six families in Sweden or Belgium. In addition, donations are kept anonymous in countries such as France and Greece. In other member states such as Austria, the person born of a gamete donation may have access to the identity of his or her parent. In Germany and Bulgaria, donations may or may not be anonymous, depending on the circumstances. In the Netherlands, the process is not anonymous. Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian National Medical Ethics Councils raised concerns over a lack of regulation at an international and European level, claiming it increases the risk of the spread of genetic diseases and consanguinity. "The risk that a genetic disease will unknowingly spread much more widely (with a large number of offspring) than if the number (of offspring) had been smaller," Wahlberg said. "The first step is therefore to establish or introduce a limit of families per donor. The second step is to create a national register. And the third step is of course to have a European register based on the national registers," Sven-Erik Söder, President of the Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics, told Euronews. In the age of social media and thorough DNA testing, donor anonymity can no longer be 100% guaranteed, which some have argued could put off people from donating. When asked if the introduction of regulations could lead to a shortage of sperm donations, Söder said the solution is not the absence of restrictions, but instead encourage people to donate.


Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Sperm donation policies in Europe questioned after cancer scare
The disparity of sperm donor laws in Europe has been called into question after a Danish sperm donor with an inherited cancer mutation is said to have helped conceive at least 67 children across Europe, mostly in Belgium. The European Sperm Bank (ESB) allegedly used gametes from a Danish donor who unknowingly carried a rare variation of the TP53 gene that increases the risk of early cancer. Out of the 67 children he helped to conceive, 23 of them are carriers of the variant, 10 of whom have developed cancer. The case was revealed at the end of May by Dr. Edwige Kasper, a biologist at Rouen University Hospital, at a meeting of the European Society of Human Genetics in Milan. "It's a syndrome called Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which will give rise to multiple cancers with a very broad spectrum, so children who are carriers of this variant need to be monitored very closely," the specialist in hereditary predispositions to cancer told Euronews. Of the 10 children who have developed a form of cancer, the doctor counts four haemopathies, four brain tumours and two types of sarcoma that affect the muscles. The case has highlighted the shortcomings of sperm donation policies across Europe. While most European countries limit the number of children fathered by a single donor, or the number of families that can be helped by a single donor, there is no limit at international or European level. The conditions around anonymity also vary from country to country. "We will end up with an abnormal spread of a genetic pathology, because the sperm bank involved in this case has set a limit of 75 families from the donor. Other sperm banks have not set a limit," explained Kasper. Although donors are subject to medical examinations and genetic tests, "there is no perfect pre-selection," explained Ayo Wahlberg, researcher and a member of the Danish Council on Ethics. "Technology is developing so fast. Genetic testing technologies and their costs are falling so fast that, if we compare 10 or 15 years ago and today in terms of recruitment and the types of genetic tests that can be carried out as part of the screening process, a lot has changed," the professor explained. The rules governing sperm donation vary from one European country to another. The maximum number of children from a single donor varies from 15 in Germany to one in Cyprus. Other countries prefer to limit the number of families that can use the same donor to give them the opportunity to have brothers and sisters. For example, the same donor can help 12 families in Denmark and six families in Sweden or Belgium. In addition, donations are kept anonymous in countries such as France and Greece. In other member states such as Austria, the person born of a gamete donation may have access to the identity of his or her parent. In Germany and Bulgaria, donations may or may not be anonymous, depending on the circumstances. In the Netherlands, the process is not anonymous. Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian National Medical Ethics Councils raised concerns over a lack of regulation at an international and European level, claiming it increases the risk of the spread of genetic diseases and consanguinity. "The risk that a genetic disease will unknowingly spread much more widely (with a large number of offspring) than if the number (of offspring) had been smaller," Wahlberg said. "The first step is therefore to establish or introduce a limit of families per donor. The second step is to create a national register. And the third step is of course to have a European register based on the national registers," Sven-Erik Söder, President of the Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics, told Euronews. In the age of social media and thorough DNA testing, donor anonymity can no longer be 100% guaranteed, which some have argued could put off people from donating. When asked if the introduction of regulations could lead to a shortage of sperm donations, Söder said the solution is not the absence of restrictions, but instead encourage people to donate. A referendum in Italy on citizenship requirements and job protection is likely to have failed, as turnout was far below the required threshold, polling agency YouTrend said on Monday. Turnout needed to be at least 50% plus one vote to make the referendum results binding, but based on data collected from 60,000 polling stations, turnout was around 30%. The referendum, proposed by trade unions and civic organisations, addresses issues that have generated political debate in Italy in recent years, particularly labour market reform, primarily the 2016 Labour Act, as well as migrant reception and integration policies. The first four questions relate to labour issues and concern the increasing protection of workers, small enterprises and their obligations towards employees, short-term contracts, and the responsibility of clients towards subcontracting parties and employees' safety. The fifth question concerns the period of time necessary for non-EU nationals residing in the country to be eligible for Italian citizenship, proposing to reduce it from 10 to five years. The parties of the ruling coalition, led by Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy, opposed the referendum, with some politicians urging citizens not to participate in the vote. According to the advocacy group International Democracy Community, although opposition parties have supported the referendum, it is primarily a citizens' initiative and not a political matter. "The referendum questions were proposed through a bottom-up approach, and did not come from parliament," the International Democracy Community said in a statement. "Members of the Europa+ party launched the initiative on the citizenship question, whilst the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) has been the initiator of the Labour Act ones, with support from the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement, and the Green and Left Alliance." According to exit data after polls closed at 3 pm, the "yes" vote for the four labour law questions stood at around 85%, while 60% of voters said yes to the citizenship question. The referendum coincided with local elections in several Italian regions and municipalities.


Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Salmonella outbreak linked to cashew butter sickens at least 65 people
A salmonella outbreak linked to cashew butter has sickened dozens of young children in Germany and Austria, health officials have warned. The illnesses are linked to Salmonella Infantis, a form of the bacteria typically associated with contaminated chicken. Since Germany detected the outbreak in late May, it has reported 52 salmonella cases among children under the age of 5, including 24 hospitalisations. Another 13 cases have been confirmed in Austria, mostly among young children, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Health authorities interviewed about two dozen parents, allowing them to identify the culprit behind the outbreak: a ready-to-eat cashew butter that the ECDC said has now been recalled. According to Germany's food safety notice, the recalled mousse is a raspberry-flavoured cashew butter sold in supermarkets throughout the country. 'Consumption of food contaminated with salmonella can lead to diarrhoea, headaches, abdominal pain, malaise, vomiting, and a mild fever,' the notice said. 'Infants, young children, and the elderly or those with weakened immune systems are particularly at risk and may develop more severe illnesses'. Beyond Austria and Germany, the cashew butter was sold in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, and Slovenia – but as of June 4, none of these countries had reported any salmonella cases linked to the food, according to the ECDC. But that could change, the agency said. 'Given the [mousse's] long shelf-life, there might still be a possibility for the food products to be present in consumers' homes,' the ECDC said, meaning additional illnesses could be reported in the coming weeks. The ECDC is monitoring the incident and has asked countries to share any available data on the outbreak-linked salmonella samples for further analysis. It is not the only salmonella risk in the European Union recently. In March, the agencyissued a warning about 'widespread' outbreaks tied to alfalfa seeds from Italy. Belgium counts 400 breweries and produces more than 1,600 types of beers, and yet its beer consumption continues to decline. According to an annual report by the Belgian Brewers association, the country's beer consumption fell by 2.1% in 2024, although the declinde was not as steep as the 6% decrease in 2023. The drop is part of an ongoing downward trend, with consumption in the country falling by almost 20% in the last 10 years. The association cites "persistent pressure on purchasing power, reduced competitiveness, high costs and an unstable geopolitical context," as the reason for the decreased consumption. They also noted a change in drinking habits, and growing health concerns. "Belgians are drinking less alcohol overall, and so, less beer." But it is not just Belgium, European brewers have been grappling with the long-term decline as the European Union has experienced a decline in demand for alcoholic beers, a Eurostat report reveals. Instead, non-alcoholic beverages are becoming increasingly more popular. "Five years ago, there was just one non-alcoholic beer, now there are six," bar owner Waldo Marlier told local media when speaking about his own stock. Non-alcoholic drinks have also seen a rapid rise in the UK, including popular trends such a Dry January which consists of staying sober for the month. It was estimated that 15.5 million people took part in it in the UK in 2025. Younger generations, increasingly aware of the harmful impact of alcohol on both physical and mental health, are changing the heavy drinking installed by previous generations. A recent survey published in The Times revealed that almost half of 18- to 34-year-olds have stopped drinking alcohol altogether. Similarly, a 2024 YouGov study found that 44 percent of British people aged 18 to 24 now prefer low or non-alcoholic alternatives. For many, non-alcoholic options provide a way to moderate consumption, feel included, and maintain better self-control during nights out. Recent socio-economic events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost of living crisis, have reshaped our relationship with alcohol, encouraging people to reconsider its financial and personal costs.