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Caspases, a family of cysteine proteases, mediate apoptosis and inflammation, which are associated with many chronic liver diseases that lead to hepatic fibrosis. Emricasan, a pan-caspase inhibitor, has been shown to reduce serum markers for apoptosis and inflammation in chronic liver disease.
In this manufacturer–sponsored and designed, multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study in patients with Child-Pugh A or B cirrhosis, patients randomly received emricasan 25 mg or placebo twice daily for 3 months. Thereafter, all patients received open-label emricasan for an additional 3 months. The primary endpoint was a change from baseline in levels of serum keratin 18 (CK-18) at 3 months. Secondary endpoints included model for…