A novel, orally available small molecule AMPK activator as a treatment for non al

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): No specific therapies exist for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which affects 2-5% of Americans. The long term goal of this project is to develop DB0930-007-a novel, highly specific, orally available small moleculeactivator of 5'-AMP-activated kinase (AMPK)-as an innovative treatment for NASH. Preliminary data indicate that administration of DB0930-007 to mice fed a high fat diet (HFD) reduces hepatic cholesterol, triglycerides, free fatty acids, alanine aminotransferase (ALAT), aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) and ?-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) to control diet levels-importantly with no liver toxicity. The HFD model is, on its own, insufficient for the complete analysis of NASH. Notably, the ability of our compound to reduce NASH inflammation is unknown. Accordingly, the Specific Aims for this Phase I project are: 1) Exploit an improved NASH model to determine if DB0930-007 can reverse the metabolic and fibrotic pathologies of NASH. A streptozotocin/HFD proce