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VIDEO: Obeticholic acid decreases alkaline phosphatase in PSC
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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, discusses findings on obeticholic aid’s on pruritus among patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.
“A lot of clinicians are somewhat hesitant at treating people who inject drugs because they believe that they’ll become reinfected and unsuccessfully cured,” he told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease. “What we’ve found so far ... is that there are cases of reinfection, but the overall incidence of reinfection is relatively low.”
“Primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC, is a chronic cholestatic liver disease. It’s relatively uncommon, but it’s present in about 5% of patients with inflammatory bowel disease,” Kowdley . “This disease has a long, natural history, but it does have complications that a subset of patients may experience, such as cirrhosis, complications of liver failure, need for liver transplantation and possibly bile duct or liver cancer.”
Among patients who received initial treatment with 5 mg of obeticholic acid with an increase to 10 mg, the researchers observed a significant decrease in alkaline phosphatase.
“Based on this, the safety profile seems acceptable to move forward with additional trials, in my opinion,” Kowdley said. “Certainly, we need additional therapy for patients with PSC, which is a current chronic disease that can cause life threatening complications with no currently approved therapies.”
Reference:
Kowdley KV, et al. Abstract LB-2. Presented at: The Liver Meeting; Oct. 20-24, 2017; Washington, D.C.
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.