Semaglutide linked to lower liver fat in adults with obesity

Clinical takeaway: Discuss reduced liver fat as a potential additional benefit of semaglutide when treating eligible patients with obesity. Continue to assess fibrosis risk in those with suspected fatty liver disease. Improvement in liver fat does not establish that scarring has resolved.

Excess liver fat commonly accompanies obesity and can progress to liver inflammation and scarring. A new exploratory analysis suggests semaglutide may reduce that fat burden in adults with obesity without diabetes. The findings were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 2026 meeting, and reported in a Novo Nordisk news release.

Researchers assessed liver fat by MRI in a 55-participant subgroup of the STEP UP obesity trial. Results pooled participants receiving once-weekly injectable semaglutide 2.4 mg or 7.2 mg.

Mean liver fat in the semaglutide group declined from 8.8% to 3.1% over 72 weeks—a reduction of approximately 65%. Among 26 participants whose liver fat exceeded 5% at baseline, 23 (88.5%) reached levels below 5%, the threshold used to define normal liver fat. The announcement did not report corresponding placebo results or separate findings for each dose.

These findings concern fat accumulation, rather than biopsy-confirmed improvement in inflammation or scarring. Separately, Wegovy injection 2.4 mg is FDA-approved for adults with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and moderate to advanced fibrosis without cirrhosis. The pooled results do not establish whether 7.2 mg provides greater liver benefit than 2.4 mg.

“This analysis showed that semaglutide reduced liver fat and was linked to better overall liver health in adults with obesity,” said Eric Lawitz, MD, of the Texas Liver Institute and University of Texas Health San Antonio.

Source: Novo Nordisk. (2026 Oct 1). Novo’s Wegovy (semaglutide) reduced liver fat to normal levels in 9 out of 10 adults with obesity and excess liver fat – EASD2026