Pre-EASL 2026 Barcelona Peptide-MASH Slate (Opens Wednesday May 27): Semaglutide ESSENCE Liver Safety, Retatrutide MASLD Phase 3 Status, Survodutide SYNCHRONIZE-1, Vanoglipel + Resmetirom
The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Congress 2026 opens Wednesday May 27 in Barcelona with a heavy peptide-MASH slate. Novo Nordisk's ESSENCE Phase 3 program leads with liver-safety subgroup analyses (Japanese MASH cohort, women in menopause), building on the August 2025 FDA approval of semaglutide for MASH-with-fibrosis. Eli Lilly's retatrutide MASLD Phase 3 (NCT06859268) is enrolling on the 86% Phase 2 liver-fat reduction baseline. Boehringer Ingelheim survodutide SYNCHRONIZE-1 Phase 3 MASH data is expected late 2026 with positive results potentially establishing the GLP-1/glucagon dual agonist as standard of care alternative to semaglutide. MetaVia's vanoglipel (DA-1241, GPR119 agonist) Phase 2a + resmetirom combination work presented at ECO 2025 anchors the combination-MASH therapy thesis. The EASL plenaries plus the May 21 TRIUMPH-1 readout reframe MASH as a peptide-mechanism battleground rather than a single-drug indication.