As long as DDN has been reporting on pharma and life-sciences research, a constant theme has been that cancer, the central nervous system, respiratory disease, and infectious disease tend to dominate the research realm—and thus much of our coverage. Less so liver and kidney disease, despite these organs being some of the hardest-working ones in the body.

After all, the liver breaks down harmful substances, then excretes its by-products into the bile or blood. Bile by-products enter the intestine and leave the body in the form of feces, while blood by-products are filtered out by the kidneys and leave the body in the form of urine.

In recent years, we’ve seen a sharp increase in liver-related topics in DDN, largely because of a surge in R&D related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Surprisingly, though, recent weeks have brought an influx of kidney-related stories, which we share here, along with some liver research news as well.