The University of Barcelona has led a study that suggests using the drug known as pemafibrate to treat liver disease associated with metabolic disorders, the most common liver pathology in the world, which affects one in four people. The drug has long been marketed in Japan for another use: improving blood lipid levels in patients with hyperlipidaemia, a common condition in diabetics. Now, however, it could help address this serious liver disease, which still has no specific treatment.