SAN FRANCISCO – Acquist Therapeutics Inc., a Westfield, N.J.-based company targeting enzymes that regulate both production and excretion of uric acid (UA), reported that in human liver cells treated with a nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) promoter, its lead candidate, ACQT-1127, blocked a 70-fold increase in UA by more than 98 percent and reduced by more than half a marked increase in triglycerides. The candidate also brought dysregulated levels of seven NASH-related activators back within normal range, it said.