Experimental Drug Slims Obese Monkeys

An
experimental drug that targets and kills fat cells in the blood appears
to help obese rhesus monkeys lose weight, a new study suggests.
In
the future, this approach may help obese humans lose weight, according
to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers.
"Targeting
blood vessels of white fat tissue is a novel conceptual approach
against obesity," said study author Dr. Wadih Arap, the Stringer
Professor of Medicine and Experimental Diagnostic Imaging at M.D.
Anderson. "Adipotide is a new drug candidate against obesity to be
translated into potential clinical applications in humans."
The report was published in the Nov. 9 issue of Science Translational Medicine.
The
usual way drugs work to counter obesity is either by suppressing
appetite or by increasing metabolism to try to burn calories faster, the
investigators noted.
However, this new drug works by attaching
itself to fat cells in the blood vessels and triggering a synthetic
protein that causes the cell to die. These cells are then reabsorbed and
metabolized, the researchers explained.
When the drug was tried
on monkeys that were naturally obese they lost about 11 percent of their
body weight over a month, Arap's team found.
In addition, the
treated monkeys also improved their insulin resistance, which is a
marker for developing type 2 diabetes. After treatment, the monkeys used
50 percent less insulin, the researchers found.
"Moreover, the monkeys lost 27 percent of abdominal white fat after Adipotide treatment," Arap said.
When the drug was given to lean monkeys they did not lose weight, suggesting that the drug may just select obese animals.
The
drug did not have any adverse side effects, the researchers said,
adding that the monkeys were "bright and alert throughout, interacting
with caretakers and demonstrating no signs of nausea or food avoidance."
Within a month after treatment was stopped the monkeys started to gain weight again, the study authors noted.
The
researchers are planning to test the drug on prostate cancer patients.
These patients are prone to weight gain during hormone therapy, which
can lead to arthritis-causing inactivity and a host of other health
problems.
In addition, fat cells produce growth hormones that help cancer cells thrive, the researchers explained.
In this study, patients would receive injections of adipotide for 28 days.
"There
is an increasingly clear scientific and medical interplay among
obesity, metabolic syndrome and several human cancers, such as prostate,
breast, colon, ovarian, among others," Arap said.
"Basically, we
are in a cancer center and our group in particular has long been
interested in this matter as a potentially new therapeutic in prostate
cancer patients," he said.
Obesity expert Dr. David L. Katz,
director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of
Medicine, said that "for those hopeful that pharmacotherapy might
ultimately help us overcome epidemic obesity, this study serves up a
preliminary dose of encouraging news."
This good news comes in a
precautionary package of prior experience, Katz noted. "A study of nine
weeks in a small group of genetically select monkeys is a very far cry
from evidence in people, in the real world, over a meaningful span of
time," he said.
Even weight-loss drugs that appeared to perform
well in people over time like rimonabant and sibutramine have all led to
disappointment, either because of waning effectiveness or toxicity,
Katz noted.
"Adipotide may prove an exception to this rule, but believing it now would be the triumph of hope over experience," Katz said.
"This
should not distract us from how much good we could reliably get done
right now if we focused on turning what we already know about the power
of feet and forks into what we routinely do," he added.
Source

I'd try it FDA or no FDA