Obeticholic acid is a synthetic acid used to treat patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, or as it is now called " primary biliary cholangitis." This receptor modulates the bile acid metabolic pathway, fibrosis, and inflammation, reducing bile acid concentrations in hepatocytes.
Primary biliary cholangitis is a rare disease that mostly affects women between the ages of 40 and 60. The causes that originate it are unknown but it is considered autoimmune.
The application of this treatment in recent years has shown a great advance, for those who do not respond with traditional therapy.
The authorization to apply this drug was given very recently (2016) by the US Food and Drug Agency (FDA).
The administration of obeticholic acid is through a dose of 10mg once a day, causing a decrease in the concentrations of colic and chenodeoxycholic acid.
For the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis, the recommended dose in adults is 5 mg once a day. After three months, if an adequate decrease in alkaline phosphatase and / or total bilirubin has still not been achieved and the person is accepting the drug well, the dose can be increased to 10 mg once a day, this being the maximum dose recommended.
Among the side effects that this drug could cause are: abdominal pain, itching, dizziness, sore throat, peripheral edema, palpitations, thyroid abnormalities, among others.
It can be said then that the launch of this drug has been a great advance, which comes to benefit patients with liver conditions for whom there were few treatment options.
