The injectable drug lanreotide reduced the volume of swollen livers among those with polycystic kidney and liver diseases in a recent trial, MedPage Today reports.

Presenting their findings at the 53rd International Liver Congress in Vienna, researchers from the randomized, open-label 120-week DIPAK-1 trial enrolled 305 people with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) between ages 18 and 60 years old.

For this analysis, they looked at a subset of 175 people who also had polycystic liver disease, a common manifestation of ADPKD. The liver condition was defined as the presence of cysts on the organ and a liver volume of at least 2,000 milliliters.

Ninety-three of these individuals were randomized to receive 120 milligrams of subcutaneously (under the skin) injected lanreotide once every four weeks. Eighty-two people were randomized to receive the standard of care—specifically, efforts to reduce blood pressure.

At the end of this 16-week treatment period, height-adjusted liver volume declined by 1.99 percent in the lanreotide group while it increased by 3.92 percent in the standard of care group, for a difference of -5.91 percentage points. The treatment was also associated with a -7.18 percentage point difference in the change in height-adjusted liver and kidney volume.

Four months after the end of treatment, a difference in height-adjusted liver volume between the two study groups persisted.

The study authors concluded that the somatostatin analogue class of medications to which lanreotide belongs should be considered for those with an enlarged liver or kidney so as to impede the progression of liver disease.

To read the MedPage Today article, click here.