Compositions and methods for reducing hepatotoxicity associated with drug administration and treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and associated cirrhosis
The present invention relates to the discovery that acetylsalicylic acid (ASA or aspirin), salicylic acid (SA) and related salicylate esters and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, when coadministered in effective amounts with a drug or other bioactive agent which typically (in the absence of the salicylate compound) produces significant hepatotoxicity as a secondary indication, will substantially reduce or even eliminate such hepatotoxicity. Favorable therapeutic intervention results from the use of the present invention having the effect of reducing hepatotoxicity associated with the administration of certain drugs and other bioactive agents and in certain instances of allowing the administration of higher doses of a compound which, without the coadministration, would produce hepatotoxicity which limits or even negates the therapeutic value of the compound. The invention also relates to methods of reducing the likelihood of a patient at risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD), including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), or treating NAFLD or NASH including primary NASH, NASH secondary to liver transplantation (NASH post-liver transplantation) or cirrhosis represent alternative aspects of the present invention.
