DDA Conference Is About to Begin — Hotgen Biotech to Showcase Its Complete IVD Solutions in India

he 79th World Health Assembly in 2026 officially adopted a landmark resolution, marking the first time that Steatotic Liver Disease (SLD) has been comprehensively incorporated into the global Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) prevention and control framework, listed alongside cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer as a global priority chronic disease for prevention and control.

This epoch-making consensus provides clear international guidance for upgrading China's fatty liver disease prevention and control system, and brings this "silent liver disease" truly into the center of public health attention.

In China today, the prevalence of Metabolism-associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD, also known as MASLD) is approximately 30%, with a total patient population exceeding 400 million — making it the country's leading chronic liver disease. The core driver behind the rising incidence is the persistently high rate of overweight and obesity.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) Professional Practice Committee on Obesity has recently released the "Standards of Care in Overweight and Obesity Treatment 2026: Screening, Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Staging of Obesity."

Notably, the new standards set stricter diagnostic thresholds for Asian populations: a BMI ≥ 23 kg/m² now enters the metabolic high-risk range; if central obesity is also present (waist circumference ≥ 90 cm for men or ≥ 80 cm for women), obesity can be diagnosed directly even when BMI has not yet reached 27.5 kg/m².

This standard precisely fits the constitutional characteristics of the Chinese population — many people with "normal" body weight already have silently elevated visceral fat, making them a hidden high-risk group for fatty liver disease, and further expanding China's overweight and obese population. Early-stage fatty liver disease presents almost no specific symptoms, and most people, once it is detected during routine physical examinations, pay little attention, allowing the condition to progress unchecked toward steatohepatitis, liver fibrosis, and even cirrhosis or liver cancer.

The WHO resolution explicitly requires that fatty liver disease prevention and control be advanced to an earlier stage, with integrated management alongside metabolic chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes — shifting from "treating existing disease" toward "preventing disease before it occurs."

This direction is highly consistent with China's chronic disease prevention and control strategy, but the core challenge for implementation lies in early and precise assessment.

Abdominal ultrasound in routine physical examinations can only determine whether fat has accumulated in the liver and cannot distinguish steatohepatitis. Liver biopsy, the gold standard for diagnosis, is invasive and costly, making it completely unsuitable for large-scale population screening.

Non-invasive and highly accessible biomarkers have become the key to breaking this deadlock.

Hotgen Biotech's "Fatty Liver Duo" test (CK18-M30 and CK18-M65) provides a mature non-invasive solution for the auxiliary diagnosis and disease stratification of MAFLD.

Recommended by multiple domestic and international guidelines and expert consensus as steatohepatitis-related biomarkers, CK18-M30 specifically reflects the level of hepatocyte apoptosis, while CK18-M65 reflects the overall degree of hepatocyte death. Combined, they enable precise assessment of hepatic inflammatory activity and liver injury severity, effectively distinguishing simple fatty liver from steatohepatitis. Their diagnostic sensitivity outperforms traditional liver enzyme indicators such as ALT, and they can identify hidden liver inflammation even when ALT levels are normal.

The Fatty Liver Duo test employs chemiluminescence immunoassay, offering simple operation and rapid detection, and is compatible with hospitals and health examination centers at all levels. It has been incorporated into the "Health Management Service Package for Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease (2023)" and has become a routine preferred indicator in fatty liver clinics and weight-loss clinics. It enables rapid risk stratification of high-risk populations, allows individuals with mild conditions to reverse their disease through lifestyle intervention, and ensures high-risk individuals receive standardized treatment in a timely manner — truly completing the full management chain for fatty liver disease: "screening – diagnosis – intervention – follow-up."