Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, is embarking on a new research initiative with the University of Pennsylvania's PennCHOP Microbiome Program, a collaboration between the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to evaluate the effects of obeticholic acid and other product candidates on the microbiome in a variety of chronic liver diseases, beginning with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).