China has approved the weight-loss drug Wegovy, a brand name for the medication semaglutide, to treat a severe form of fatty liver disease, making it the country’s first and only glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drug approved for the condition. 

The drug, approved Sept. 10 by the National Medical Products Administration, covers adults with moderate to advanced liver damage from metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) — the result of inflammation caused by excess fat — but no cirrhosis, or permanent scarring.

The move comes as obesity drugs become more widely available internationally and growing competition pushes drugmakers to differentiate products to treat a broader spectrum of diseases. 

China has one of the world’s largest burdens of fatty liver disease, affecting about one in three adults and over 80% of people with obesity. An estimated 6.7% of Chinese adults have MASH, the disease’s more severe form, and may not qualify for GLP-1 drugs under previous weight-management indications. 

The share of global liver cancer cases caused by MASH is forecast to rise from 8% to 11% by 2050, according to a report by the Lancet Commission on liver cancer published last year.

Effective drug options for fatty liver disease have long been limited, with treatment until now largely dependent on patients making lifestyle changes, Jia Jidong, director of the Liver Research Center at Beijing Friendship Hospital, told domestic media. He added that approval of the drug could help to raise public awareness of fatty liver disease, as the illness can be “silent and asymptomatic” in its earlier stages.

Semaglutide was originally developed to treat diabetes but has become widely used for weight management in recent years. It does so by mimicking the hormone GLP-1, released in response to eating, binding to the hormone’s receptors and suppressing appetite.

The medication is sold by Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk as Ozempic for diabetes and at a higher dose as Wegovy primarily for weight management. Wegovy was approved in China for weight management in June 2024. 

The latest approval was based on a trial involving 1,197 MASH patients with moderate-to-advanced liver scarring. About two-thirds of patients who took semaglutide saw their MASH resolve, while slightly more than a third experienced reductions in liver scarring. 

Other drugmakers are also exploring GLP-1 medications as potential treatments for fatty liver disease, with Chinese regulators fast-tracking approval for U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide in January. 

Chinese biotech firm Innovent Biologics has also reported fatty liver reduction with its drug mazdutide, which was approved in the country for weight management last year. 

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: VCG)