Metacrine, Inc. announced that the first patient has been treated in the company’s Phase 2a trial evaluating MET409 (50 mg) in combination with empagliflozin (Jardiance®), a sodium-glucose cotransport-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, in patients with both type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). T2DM and NASH co-exist in many patients, with abnormal liver fat content seen in up to approximately 70% of patients with T2DM and biopsy-proven NASH in up to approximately 25% of patients. Metacrine has developed a proprietary farnesoid X receptor (FXR) platform utilizing a unique chemical scaffold, which has demonstrated a differentiated and improved therapeutic profile in the clinic. MET409, Metacrine’s lead product candidate, is a once-daily, orally administered FXR agonist that is being evaluated as both a monotherapy and a combination therapy for the treatment of NASH. In a 12-week trial in patients with NASH, MET409 (50 mg) achieved approximately 38% mean relative liver fat reduction and was associated with a 16% overall pruritus rate, with no discontinuations due to pruritus, and a 7% LDL-cholesterol increase, findings that are favorable and perceived as class-leading for FXR agonists.