Table 1.

Emerging therapeutic agents for NASH

Agent	Putative mechanism/s	Effects on NAFLD	Studies in human NAFLD
Obeticholic acid	FXR ligand Improves glucose and lipid metabolism	Improves histology including fibrosis	Yes
Fibroblast growth factor 21	Regulates glucose and lipid metabolism	Improves histology in animal models including fibrosis	Not known
Exenatide and Liraglutide	GLP-1 agonist Regulates glucose metabolism and post-prandial insulin sectretion	Improves histology including fibrosis	Yes. Recently presented liraglutide data offer exciting results.
Cysteamine Bitartrate	glutathione precursor Antioxidant	Improves ALT and keratin-18	Yes, Ongoing clinical trial
Simtuzumab	LOXL2 antagonist Antifibrotic	Unknown	Yes, Ongoing clinical trial
GR-MD-02	galactin 3 inhibitor	Improves fibrosis in murine models	Yes, Ongoing clinical trial
Cenicriviroc	inhibitor of CCR 2 and 5	Improves hepatic inflammation and fibrosis on murine models	Yes, Ongoing clinical trial
Aramchol	fatty acid–bile acid conjugate Inhibits stearoyl coenzyme A desaturase 1	Decreased hepatic fat content	Yes, Ongoing clinical trial
GFT505	PPAR α and δ agonist Imporves insulin sensitivity and lipid metabolism	Improves hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis in murine models	Yes, the scientific results of the GOLDEN 505 trial are awaited