Clinical and economic burden of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Background And Aims: The Middle East (ME) has a high prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), driven by obesity and type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Studies in Saudi Arabia (KSA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) predict an escalating impact of NAFLD/NASH, particularly advanced fibrosis due to NASH (AF-NASH), increasing cases of cirrhosis, liver cancer and death. The scale of this burden in other ME countries is unknown with no reports of NAFLD/NASH healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) or costs.

In a 'real-world', clinic-based community setting, sorafenib dose of 400 mg/day is as effective as standard dose of 800 mg/day in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcimona, with better tolerance and similar survival.

Background: Sorafenib, an oral multityrosine kinase inhibitor, has been approved for treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). British Columbia (BC) was the first province in Canada to provide drug coverage for sorafenib.

Objective: To review the BC experience with sorafenib to assess its effectiveness and tolerance in a 'real-world' clinical setting.