Daewoong Pharmaceutical's diabetes treatment, Envlo, has demonstrated a significant ability to reduce liver fat accumulation in patients with type 2 diabetes complicated by fatty liver disease. This finding underscores Envlo's potential as a comprehensive therapy for metabolic disorders.
On May 11, Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced that it presented research results at the 2025 European Congress on Obesity (ECO) held in Málaga, Spain. The data verified the liver health improvement effects of Envlo, an SGLT-2 inhibitor, reinforcing its prospects as a multifaceted metabolic disease treatment.
The study analyzed data from three phase 3 clinical trials involving 554 patients with type 2 diabetes. Results showed that patients taking 0.3 mg of Envlo for 24 weeks experienced a 32% reduction in the prevalence of fatty liver as measured by the Hepatic Steatosis Index (HSI) and a 25% reduction based on the Fatty Liver Index (FSI).
The reductions in fatty liver prevalence were statistically significant compared to placebo. Specifically, HSI-defined fatty liver cases decreased from 48.0% to 16.0%, and FSI-defined cases declined from 41.3% to 16.0%. The average index differences were -3.72 (p<0.0001) for HSI and -1.16 (p=0.0006) for FSI, demonstrating meaningful improvements.
Further comparison with dapagliflozin, another SGLT-2 inhibitor, confirmed that Envlo's treatment group showed a lower average liver fat index by 1.02 points (p=0.0257), indicating superior efficacy.
This research suggests that Envlo may offer benefits beyond glucose control, actively improving liver health in patients with fatty liver disease—a common comorbidity among type 2 diabetics. The significance of this is heightened given the rising incidence of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
Professor Jeong Chang-hee of Seoul Asan Medical Center's Department of Endocrinology explained, “Envlo not only induces weight loss but also binds strongly to SGLT-2 proteins, facilitating effective glucose excretion. This weight reduction appears to contribute to decreased fat accumulation in the liver.”
Park Hyung-chul, head of Daewoong’s ETC Marketing Division, added, “These findings demonstrate that Envlo can contribute to treating complex metabolic diseases beyond simple blood sugar reduction.”
Envlo is Korea’s first SGLT-2 inhibitor developed by a domestic pharmaceutical company and is the 36th domestically approved new drug. Even at a low dose of 0.3 mg, it delivers powerful blood glucose-lowering effects. Daewoong continues to substantiate Envlo’s multiple benefits, including weight loss, blood pressure and lipid improvements, and insulin resistance reduction.
