Blood pressure medication linked to liver repair

A new report claims to have shown how medicine for blood pressure can also reverse the effects of early-stage liver failure.

As part of the study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, researchers analysed a clinical trial of Losartan – a drug normally prescribed for hypertension – on 14 patients in Spain who had Hepatitis C.

The illness was at an advanced stage causing fibrosis – scarring in the liver – which would usually have progressed to this organ failing.

The study found after taking the medication, half of the patients involved in the trial saw scars in their liver shrink, allowing the organ to repair itself.

Commenting, Professor Derek Mann from Newcastle University said: “At the moment we have no proven effective way of treating people with chronic liver disease other than transplantation.

“This early stage trial has shown that we can shrink liver scarring in some patients and shows promise for a treatment that could make a huge difference to the lives of thousands of people.”

The authors of the study are now hoping to carry out several much larger studies initially involving patients with liver disease caused by obesity and then later alcohol, hereditary and autoimmune diseases.