Intercept Pharmaceuticals’ attempt at creating a next-generation FXR agonist for certain forms of liver inflammation appears to have ended.
The drug developer’s INT-787 showed “no clear evidence of potential” in patients with severe alcohol-associated hepatitis in a Phase 2 study, according to a recent
update
to the US federal clinical trials database. With that result, Intercept wrote in the updated trial entry that it terminated the study.
Alfasigma said in an emailed statement that the decision was “not related to any safety concerns” and that the termination “followed a comprehensive review.”
INT-787 was the last remaining candidate listed on Intercept’s pipeline page. Intercept began the placebo-controlled Phase 2a in December 2022 and enrolled 67 patients, according to the trial database.
Italian pharma group
Alfasigma bought Intercept
for about $800 million in 2023 after Intercept spent years trying to become the first drugmaker with an approved treatment for metabolic dysfunction-associated hepatitis (MASH), then known as NASH. The company’s first-generation FXR agonist, called obeticholic acid, was never greenlit for MASH/NASH. But the medicine had won the FDA’s accelerated approval blessing in 2016 for another condition called primary biliary cholangitis. It was marketed as Ocaliva for that rare autoimmune liver disease, but the company
withdrew the medicine
from the US market in 2025 after a request from the FDA.
Intercept made efforts to create new FXR agonists beyond Ocaliva, including INT-787. The farnesoid X receptor is a nuclear receptor found in the intestines and liver, where it helps regulate various inflammatory, metabolic and fibrotic pathways.
Multiple other biotechs are working on FXR agonist approaches for MASH, PBC and other conditions. That includes Shanghai startup
Cascade Pharmaceuticals
and
Eli Lilly
. But
other mechanisms
have come to the fore over the years, including a thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist that became the first FDA-approved MASH drug. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals markets that treatment as Rezdiffra and has multiple additional candidates in development. The Pennsylvania biotech disclosed its
fourth MASH deal
in 10 months earlier on Tuesday.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include a statement from an Alfasigma spokesperson.