Hepatology Intelligence Report · 2026

Hepatology Management in 2026

What 50 Key Opinion Leaders reveal about MASH, non-invasive testing, biomarkers, precision medicine, HCC management, AI and the future of liver disease care.

50 KOLs
U.S. + Europe Markets
8 Survey Questions
2026 Research Year
Liver
Intelligence
MASH Disease modification
NITs Risk stratification
AI Digital care
Biomarkers Precision medicine
Executive Snapshot

Hepatology is moving from monitoring to intervention.

Hepatology is entering a new phase of clinical innovation. Management is shifting from predominantly monitoring disease progression toward earlier diagnosis, risk stratification, disease modification, precision medicine and digitally enabled care.

This transformation is particularly visible in MASLD and MASH, where disease-modifying therapies, non-invasive testing, biomarkers and artificial intelligence are increasingly influencing research and treatment pathways.

The survey reveals a hepatology community that is highly optimistic about innovation while remaining aware of access, reimbursement and implementation challenges.

92%
Innovation remains essential

KOLs report a high or very high need for continued innovation in hepatology.

82%
Current therapies leave gaps

Consider existing treatment options only partially adequate for liver disease patients.

90%
Precision care is becoming central

Rate biomarkers, NITs and personalized medicine as extremely or very important.

86%
Adoption is expected to expand

Expect substantial expansion of novel therapies, diagnostics and AI-supported care within five years.

The Bigger Picture

The Hepatology Innovation Shift

The emerging model connects earlier risk identification with non-invasive testing, patient stratification, treatment selection, digital monitoring and outcome assessment.

01

Risk Identification

Identify patients at increased risk earlier.

02

Non-Invasive Testing

Assess disease severity without relying solely on invasive approaches.

03

Fibrosis Stratification

Segment patients according to disease and fibrosis risk.

04

Treatment Selection

Connect patient characteristics with appropriate interventions.

05

Digital Monitoring

Track patients and treatment response longitudinally.

06

Outcome Assessment

Measure the impact of treatment and care pathways.

Expert Perspective

What Are Hepatology KOLs Signaling?

Across the eight survey questions, three themes stand out: continued unmet need, growing importance of precision care, and accelerating adoption of new technologies.

01 · UNMET NEED
92%

Innovation remains necessary

More than nine in ten KOLs identified a high or very high need for continued innovation across hepatology.

02 · PRECISION CARE
90%

Diagnostics are becoming strategic

Biomarkers, non-invasive tests and personalized medicine are viewed as highly important for optimizing care.

03 · ADOPTION
86%

Innovation is expected to expand

KOLs expect novel therapies, NITs, biomarkers and AI-supported care to expand substantially within five years.

Survey Findings

8 Questions. 50 Expert Perspectives.

50 Key Opinion Leaders
Q1
Need for continued innovation
92%
Q2
Adequacy of current treatment options
82%
Q3
Most important advancement
44%
Q4
Importance of biomarkers, NITs & precision medicine
90%
Q5
Expected expansion of novel therapies, NITs & AI
86%
Q6
Greatest implementation barrier
62%
Q7
Digital health & AI impact
80%
Q8
Future outlook
92%
Detailed Response Distribution

What the Survey Data Shows

Question 01

How significant is the need for continued innovation in hepatology?

92%
Very High / High Need
Very High
58%
High
34%
Moderate
8%
Low
0%
What this means

More than nine in ten surveyed KOLs identified a high or very high need for continued innovation, highlighting opportunities across therapeutics, diagnostics, disease monitoring and care delivery.

Question 02

Are current treatment options adequately addressing the needs of liver disease patients?

82%
Partially Adequate
Fully adequate
8%
Partially adequate
82%
Inadequate
10%
What this means

Current therapies have improved the treatment landscape, but major unmet needs remain around disease modification, earlier intervention, patient selection, personalization and long-term disease management.

Question 03

What has been the most important advancement in hepatology over the last five years?

44%
Disease-Modifying Therapies / MASLD-MASH
Disease-modifying therapies
44%
HCC systemic / combination
18%
NITs / fibrosis stratification
16%
Precision / biomarkers
10%
Transplant / cirrhosis
6%
Digital health / AI
6%
What this means

Disease-modifying therapies for MASLD/MASH were the leading response, reflecting growing interest in treatments that directly address liver inflammation and fibrosis.

Question 04

How important are biomarkers, NITs and personalized medicine?

90%
Extremely / Very Important
Extremely important
56%
Very important
34%
Moderately important
10%
Low importance
0%
What this means

The findings demonstrate strong KOL support for biomarkers, non-invasive testing and personalized medicine as the specialty moves toward a more data-driven treatment model.

Question 05

Will adoption of novel therapies, NITs, biomarkers and AI expand substantially?

86%
Yes
Yes
86%
Unsure
10%
No
4%
What this means

KOLs increasingly view hepatology innovation as an integrated ecosystem connecting therapies, diagnostics, biomarkers, AI and digital monitoring.

Question 06

What is the greatest barrier to broader implementation?

62%
Cost / Access / Reimbursement / Delayed Diagnosis
Cost / access / reimbursement / delayed diagnosis
62%
Insurance / prior authorization
16%
Limited biomarker / NIT validation
10%
Infrastructure / workforce
12%
What this means

The survey highlights a critical distinction between innovation and adoption. New technologies may demonstrate strong clinical potential, but their impact depends on whether patients can actually be identified, diagnosed, treated and monitored.

Question 07

How likely are digital health, AI and remote monitoring to improve outcomes?

80%
Likely / Very Likely
Very likely
46%
Likely
34%
Neutral
14%
Unlikely
6%
What this means

Four out of five surveyed KOLs believe digital health, AI and remote monitoring are likely or very likely to improve hepatology outcomes.

Question 08

How optimistic are KOLs about the future of hepatology?

92%
Optimistic / Very Optimistic
Very optimistic
44%
Optimistic
48%
Neutral
6%
Pessimistic
2%
What this means

The overwhelmingly positive outlook reflects the convergence of disease-modifying therapies, improved fibrosis assessment, NITs, biomarker research, precision medicine, HCC advances and digital technologies.

Innovation Spotlight

MASH treatment is moving toward disease modification.

Disease-modifying therapies for MASLD/MASH were identified as the leading advancement by surveyed KOLs. The treatment landscape is increasingly moving beyond supportive management toward therapies that directly address disease biology.

2024

Resmetirom

FDA approval for appropriate adults with noncirrhotic MASH/NASH and moderate-to-advanced fibrosis.

2025

Semaglutide

FDA approval for appropriate adults with noncirrhotic MASH and moderate-to-advanced fibrosis.

2026

Integrated Care

Increasing focus on treatment selection, NITs, longitudinal monitoring and patient stratification.

The Adoption Gap

Innovation ≠ Adoption

The next challenge is not simply developing innovation. It is making innovation accessible and implementable.

Scientific Innovation

What is changing

  • Disease-modifying therapies
  • Non-invasive testing
  • Biomarker development
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Digital health
Real-World Barriers

What can slow adoption

  • Treatment affordability
  • Insurance coverage
  • Reimbursement policies
  • Prior authorization
  • Delayed diagnosis
62%
identified cost/access, reimbursement and delayed diagnosis as the leading implementation barrier.
AI & Digital Health

AI is moving from concept to clinical workflow.

Four out of five surveyed KOLs believe digital health, AI and remote monitoring are likely or very likely to improve hepatology outcomes.

80%
Likely / Very likely to improve hepatology outcomes

Emerging AI-augmented hepatology workflow

AI applications can support clinical and research workflows while clinicians retain responsibility for interpretation and care.

01
EHR-based risk identification
02
Clinical documentation & summarization
03
Evidence retrieval
04
Predictive analytics
05
Patient & remote monitoring
06
Treatment-response assessment
07
Clinical trial recruitment
08
Real-world evidence generation
Industry Perspective

Five Shifts Reshaping Hepatology

The survey results point to a specialty moving toward earlier identification, disease modification, personalized treatment and technology-enabled care.

01

Monitoring → Disease Modification

The emergence of therapies for appropriate patients with MASH and moderate-to-advanced fibrosis changes treatment from supportive management toward active disease modification.

02

Late Diagnosis → Earlier Risk Identification

Delayed diagnosis remains a major implementation barrier. NITs and risk-stratification tools can help identify high-risk patients earlier and support more efficient referral pathways.

03

Population Treatment → Patient Segmentation

Biomarkers, imaging, clinical characteristics and longitudinal data can increasingly be combined to determine which patients are most likely to benefit from specific interventions.

04

Manual Workflows → AI-Augmented Care

AI is moving into practical applications across documentation, research, pathology, EHR analytics and patient monitoring. Responsible deployment requires validation, governance, human oversight and high-quality data.

05

Innovation → Access

Cost, reimbursement, access and delayed diagnosis may determine the real-world impact of innovation. Competitive advantage will increasingly depend on connecting innovation with patient access.

The Emerging Model

The Future Is Convergent

The future of hepatology is unlikely to be defined by one category of innovation. Instead, the specialty is moving toward an interconnected model.

Disease-Modifying Therapies
+
NITs
+
Biomarkers
+
Real-World Data
+
AI
+
Digital Monitoring
Strategic Outcome Personalized, connected hepatology care
Strategic Implications

What This Means for Life Sciences

As therapeutic, diagnostic and digital innovation converge, expert intelligence becomes increasingly important for understanding how the market may evolve.

“KOL intelligence is shifting from ‘Who are the experts?’ to ‘What do experts believe, prioritize and influence?’”

Pharmaceutical Companies

Understand treatment adoption

Identify unmet needs, treatment perceptions and barriers that may influence uptake of emerging therapies.

Medical Affairs

Understand expert evidence priorities

Identify which evidence KOLs prioritize and how expert perceptions are evolving around emerging science.

Diagnostics

Identify NIT and biomarker opportunities

Understand how specialists view risk stratification, patient selection and diagnostic innovation.

Digital Health & AI

Build clinically useful technology

Focus on validated, interoperable solutions that augment clinical workflows while maintaining appropriate human oversight.

Conclusion

The future of hepatology is better-connected innovation.

The perspectives of 50 hepatology KOLs across the United States and Europe reveal a specialty undergoing significant transformation.

Ninety-two percent identified a high or very high need for continued innovation, 82% considered current treatment options only partially adequate, 90% rated biomarkers, NITs and personalized medicine as extremely or very important, and 86% expected substantial expansion of novel therapies, diagnostics and AI-supported care.

At the same time, 62% identified treatment cost/access, reimbursement and delayed diagnosis as the greatest implementation challenge.

The next generation of hepatology management will therefore depend not only on what new therapies and technologies are developed, but also on how effectively organizations translate those innovations into accessible, evidence-based and personalized patient care.

Earlier Diagnosis Risk Stratification Personalized Treatment AI-Enabled Monitoring Measurable Outcomes
Frequently Asked Questions

Hepatology Management FAQs

Disease-modifying treatment for MASH, combined with earlier fibrosis identification, non-invasive testing and increasingly personalized care, represents one of the most important trends in hepatology.
Non-invasive tests can support fibrosis risk stratification, patient identification and longitudinal monitoring while reducing dependence on invasive diagnostic approaches in appropriate clinical pathways.
Biomarkers can support disease staging, risk assessment, patient selection, treatment monitoring and clinical research. Their broader adoption depends on validation and integration into clinical workflows.
AI applications include EHR analysis, clinical documentation, pathology assessment, evidence retrieval, risk prediction, patient monitoring, clinical research and real-world data analysis.
Among surveyed KOLs, treatment cost and access, reimbursement and delayed diagnosis were the leading barriers, followed by insurance/prior authorization, infrastructure limitations and limited biomarker/NIT validation.
Recent regulatory advances discussed in this research include FDA approval of resmetirom in 2024 for appropriate adults with noncirrhotic MASH/NASH and moderate-to-advanced fibrosis and semaglutide in 2025 for appropriate adults with noncirrhotic MASH and moderate-to-advanced fibrosis.
AI is more likely to augment rather than replace hepatologists. Current applications emphasize decision support, workflow efficiency, data analysis and monitoring, with clinicians retaining responsibility for interpretation and patient care.
The future will likely be shaped by the convergence of disease-modifying therapies, non-invasive diagnostics, biomarkers, precision medicine, AI, digital health, real-world evidence and improved patient access.
Strategic Intelligence

Turn Expert Intelligence
Into Strategic Action

Understand how leading hepatology experts interpret emerging therapies, diagnostics, AI and clinical innovation.

Explore KOL Intelligence
Download Full Report (PDF)
Thought Leadership

Trusted by Industry Leaders

Our data-driven insights have influenced the strategy of 200+ reputed companies across the globe.

SPER-Astellas Pharma
SPER-Microsoft
SPER-EY
SPER-McKinsey
SPER-Bain
SPER-Max-Healthcare
SPER-DHL
SPER-IQVIA
SPER-Mitsubishi Logistics
SPER-PACCOR
SPER-Macmillan Education
SPER-Kankar IMRB
SPER-ITA
SPER-PWC
SPER-SAPTCA
SPER-Straumann
SPER-Danaher
SPER-AandM
SPER-MENARINI Silicon Biosystems
SPER-IPSOS
SPER-Heineken
HIPPA Compliant
GDPR Certified
ISO 27001
Peer Reviewed
Get Started Today

Your Competitive Advantage in
Pharmaceutical & Medical Technology
Markets

Join industry leaders leveraging AI-powered intelligence to make confident, data-driven decisions that accelerate breakthrough treatments and technologies to market.

Schedule Consultation Explore AI Platforms
No Credit Card Required
15-Minute Demo
Expert Guidance