THSTI and AIIMS, New Delhi co-organized a one-day symposium titled "Current Trends in Therapeutics and Diagnostics of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease" on 10th December 2019 at THSTI. The prime objective of the symposium was to deliberate on the current scenario of drug discovery and development as well as the status of biomarker discovery for Non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) disease & non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Deliberations by the experts from academia, industry and medical institutions helped in improving the molecular understanding of disease progression and strategize for effective therapy. The panel discussion addressed the current status and pitfalls of the current drugs under clinical trial. Future strategies for therapy and biomarkers identification were also extensively deliberated.

The symposium was well received by academicians, clinicians and industry personals. Clinicians and researchers from AIIMS, RCB, ANNA UNIVERSITY, APEEJAY SATYA UNIVERSITY, BENNETT UNIVERSITY, CCRAS, CSIR-CDRI, DIPSAR, DPSRU, GASTROENTEROLOGY RAIPUR, ILBS, JAMIA HAMDARD, JNU, NII, NIMR and SHIVALAYA GASTRO CLINIC attended the symposium. Researchers from Dabur, Jiva Ayurveda, BogaR laboratories and Zydus also participated in the symposium. Overall 120 registered participants attended the event.

Professor Guruprasad P. Aithal, Professor of Hepatology and the Head of the Division, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, lucidly presented the current drug targets and status of drugs under clinical trials for the treatment of NAFLD and NASH. He also emphasized on the need for non-invasive and affordable biomarkers to monitor disease progression and also the current status of the diagnostic tools available for the diagnosis of NASH. Vaidya Dhiman, Director-General, CCRAS explained the ayurvedic concepts helpful in understanding NAFLD and encouraged the audience to be more informed about the applications of Ayurveda for NAFLD and NASH. Dr Mukul Jain from Zydus Pharmaceutical delivered a talk on Saroglitazar, the first diabetic drug from the Indian pharmaceutical industry and its positioning for NAFLD/NASH. Dr Shalimar provided an in-depth understanding of NAFLD/NASH and the distinct features observed in the Indian patients. India is known for its traditional knowledge of Ayurveda, Dr JLN Sastry (Dabur) and Dr Pratap Chauhan (Jiva), deliberated on the herbal formulations useful in the treatment for NAFLD/NASH, Ayurvedic principles helpful in the diagnosis of NAFLD and also the ways to prevent NAFLD by adopting a healthy lifestyle as per Ayurvedic principles. In the end Dr Madhu Dikshit presented the strategies adopted at THSTI for the treatment and identification of NASH.