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Ozempic Can Treat Fatty Liver Disease

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on May 1, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 1, 2025 -- The cutting-edge weight-loss drug Ozempic/Wegovy can stop and even reverse fatty liver disease, a new clinical trial has found.

Nearly twice as many people taking semaglutide stopped their fatty liver disease without further scarring of the organ — 63%, compared with 34% of those taking a placebo, researchers reported April 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

An estimated 15 million Americans — 1 in 20 adults — suffer from fatty liver disease, also known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), researchers said in background notes.

Results from the clinical trial “provide strong evidence that semaglutide can help patients with MASH by not only improving liver health, but also addressing the underlying metabolic issues that contribute to the disease,” lead researcher Dr. Arun Sanyal, director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health, said in a news release.

MASH occurs when fat builds up in the liver, leading to inflammation and scarring. The condition has been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, elevated cholesterol levels and high blood pressure, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drug. It works by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone, which helps control insulin and blood sugar levels, decreases appetite and slows digestion of food.

For the clinical trial, researchers recruited 800 people in 37 countries with moderate to severe liver scarring from fatty liver disease and randomly assigned roughly two-thirds to take semaglutide for 72 weeks.

Along with a reduction in liver inflammation, about 37% of semaglutide users showed less liver scarring compared to about 23% in the placebo group, researchers said.

Overall, about a third of semaglutide users achieved both inflammation reduction and scarring improvement, more than double those taking placebo, results show.

Semaglutide also helped people lose weight, improve their liver function, and boost their overall heart health, researchers said.

“By treating both liver disease and its metabolic causes, semaglutide offers a promising new approach for millions of patients,” Sanyal said.

Currently, there is only one U.S. government-approved treatment available for fatty liver disease, Rezdiffra (resmetirom), researchers said. It works by activating a thyroid hormone receptor that promotes reduction of fat buildup in the liver.

The manufacturer of semaglutide, Novo Nordisk, plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the drug to treat fatty liver disease later this year, researchers said.

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted May 2025

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