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VIDEO: Expert reviews promising treatment data from The Liver Meeting 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In this exclusive video from The Liver Meeting 2017, Kris V. Kowdley, MD, FAASLD, of the Swedish Medical Center, Liver Care Network, Seattle, highlights some of the ground-breaking presentations from the meeting.

“Certainly, what we learned is for hepatitis C the goal is now elimination,” he told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease. “We have highly effective, pangenotypic regimens that can cure the vast majority of patients with as little as 8 weeks and potentially even longer duration. We now have data in posttransplant populations and patients with chronic kidney disease that we might be able to expand some of our treatment options.”

According to Kowdley, the data presented on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease showed that gastroenterologists and hepatologists need to work with and educate their primary care colleagues on the significance of NAFLD, and to counsel patients about lifestyle modification, including diet and exercise, to improve their metabolic risk factors.

Regarding other liver diseases, multiple physicians presented data on thrombopoieitin receptor agonists to increase platelet counts in patients with cirrhosis, and several presentations focused on hepatitis B.

“The treatment landscape for hepatitis B is rapidly evolving and is likely to incorporate combination therapies both to suppress the virus [and provide] profound reduction in viral replication ... hopefully achieving a functional cure.” – by Talitha Bennett

Disclosure: Kowdley reports he is an advisory committee or review panel member of AbbVie, Allergan, Conatus, Dicerna, Gilead, Intercept, Merck, Novartis, Trio Health and Verlyx; is a consultant to Arena, Enanta and NGM Biopharma; is an independent contractor for and received speaking and teaching fees from Gilead and Intercept; and received grants or research support from AbbVie, Evidera, Galectin, Genfit, Gilead, Immuron, Intercept, Merck, Novartis and NGM Biopharma.