In an attempt to break into the non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) market, Novartis has partnered up with Pfizer to explore combination therapies for the disease. The agreement will look at combining Novartis’ Phase II drug, tropifexor, with one or more of Pfizer’s three NASH assets. While this will be Pfizer’s first external NASH collaboration, Novartis has an existing collaboration with Allergan. The companies will face competition from Gilead and Intercept both of which have candidates in Phase III and are expecting key data readouts in 2019.