Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (
NAFLD) has become one of the most common causes of
liver diseases globally, with a projected exponential rise. In contrast to the exponential rise in disease burden, there are limited options in the pharmacotherapeutic armamentarium against
NAFLD.
Saroglitazar belongs to the class of drugs known as
peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (
PPAR) agonists, initially introduced for managing diabetic
dyslipidemia. However, based on translational and clinical studies, it has been shown to be efficacious in
NAFLD. It has been shown to modify key parameters in
NAFLD, including reduction of
transaminase levels, improvement in overall metabolic health, reduction of liver fat content, and improvement of liver stiffness and histology. Given the promising results, it has been made a part of society's guidelines in the therapeutic management of
NAFLD. However, there remains a dearth of detailed reviews encompassing both pre-clinical and clinical data on the effectiveness of
saroglitazar in
NAFLD. In this review, we comprehensively review the pharmacology, pre-clinical data, and clinical studies on
saroglitazar usage in
NAFLD and conduct a subgroup meta-analysis of studies focussing on the impact of
saroglitazar on liver stiffness changes.