SynthesisJournal of translational medicine2026
Efficacy of pharmacotherapies in improving liver fibrosis among patients with MASLD and fibrosis stages of F1-F3: systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of translational medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMetabolism-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is one of the most prevalent chronic liver diseases worldwide. In recent years, although a network meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy of different drugs for patients with MASLD, it did not provide the specific dosage of the drugs and could not be accurately applied to the specific population for MASLD and fibrosis stages F1-F3, which greatly affected the extensibility and accuracy of the evidence. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of various pharmacotherapies with different dosages in improving liver fibrosis among MASLD patients with fibrosis stages F1-F3 through a network meta-analysis.
methodsRandomized controlled trials involving adults with MASLD and fibrosis stages of F1-F3 who received pharmacological interventions for improving liver fibrosis from three databases were identified from inception to July 21, 2025.
resultsThirteen RCTs involving 3,871 patients with 12 pharmacological interventions were involved. Compared with placebo in this network meta-analysis, 6 active pharmacological interventions, including resmetirom 80 mg/day (RR = 2.56, 95%CI: 1.09, 6.02), resmetirom 100 mg/day (RR = 3.07, 95%CI: 1.31, 7.16), survodutide 6 mg/week (RR = 7.25, 95%CI: 2.07, 25.36), tirzepatide 5 mg/week (RR = 4.29, 95%CI: 1.33, 13.82), tirzepatide 10 mg/week (RR = 5.31, 95%CI: 1.67, 16.85), and tirzepatide 15 mg/week (RR = 6.00, 95%CI: 1.91, 18.89), were significantly more effective for achieving NASH resolution without worsening of fibrosis. In direct comparisons, 6 active interventions, including resmetirom 80 mg/day (RR = 1.70, 95%CI: 1.22, 2.37), survodutide 6 mg/week (RR = 7.25, 95%CI: 2.68, 19.60), tirzepatide 5 mg/week (RR = 4.29, 95%CI: 1.76, 10.43), tirzepatide 10 mg/week (RR = 5.31, 95%CI: 2.23, 12.66), tirzepatide 15 mg/week (RR = 6.00, 95%CI: 2.54, 14.15), and denifanstat 50 mg/day (RR = 2.46, 95%CI: 1.18, 5.13), were significantly more effective than placebo. The ranking based SUCRA showed that survodutide 6 mg/week (92.0%) demonstrated the best efficacy, followed by tirzepatide 15 mg/week (89.9%), whereas emricasan 10 mg/day had the poorest efficacy (8.1%).
conclusionsThis study supported the use of survodutide (4.8 mg/week), efruxiferimin (28 mg/week), resmetirom (80 mg/day), and denifanstat (50 mg/day) as an recommended regimen in adults with MASLD and fibrosis stages of F1-F3. However, these findings did not support the clinical use of emricasan because of its poor efficacy. Concurrently, multiple pharmacological agents also exhibited efficacy at other relevant clinical endpoints.
trial registrationThe protocol of NMA was available at the Open Science Framework (OSF: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/DM2NC ).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.