Obeticholic acid may increase the risk of gallstone formation in susceptible patients

The nuclear farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonist obeticholic acid (OCA) has been developed for the treatment of liver diseases. We aimed to determine whether OCA treatment increases the risk of gallstone formation.Twenty patients awaiting laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomized to treatment with OCA (25 mg/day) or placebo for 3 weeks until the day before surgery. Serum bile acids (BAs), the BA synthesis marker C4...