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Anti-Obesity Drug Showing Drastic Results

Posted on: Thursday, 23 October 2008, 14:30 CDT

Early trials are indicating that an anti-obesity drug is greatly outperforming its diet competitors. Danish researchers are testing the drug tesofensine and have discovered that dieting patients on the highest doses of the drug available have lost up to 28.2 lbs in only six months.

This is two times the weight loss achieved by other drugs like sibutramine and rimonabant. However, experts have cautioned consumers that additional testing is needed, and have shown concern that the results might have been exaggerated.

Tesofensine first grabbed the attention of obesity researchers when it caused accidental weight loss in overweight patients being treated for Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease. It alters the way that the three nerve signaling chemicals, noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin affect the brain. This consequently reduces the appetite, causing the person to consume smaller meals.

Professor Arne Astrup, from the University of Copenhagen, led the Danish study. The researchers separated 203 obese patients into two groups. Each group was given a once-daily pill and told to moderate their diets.

Half the pills were the actually drug tesofensine, and the others were placebos.

Six months later, all members of the groups were re-measured, and the researchers noted that while the placebo group lost an average of 4.85 lbs, those consuming the tesofensine lost more.

In the lowest dose administered, the normal weight loss was 14.8 lbs, the medium dose group lost 24.9 lbs, and the maximum dose group lost 28.2 lbs.

The results are about twice of those achieved by the top weight-loss drugs already used in Europe. The drugs still produce side-effects, including dry mouth, insomnia, nausea and diarrhea.  The largest amounts of these drugs can increase patients' blood pressure, which is a big concern to researchers, because most obese patients could have heart problems or diabetes.

The researchers agree that the middle dose administered is promising because it allowed as great a weight loss as the highest dose, but did not have the severe side-effects.

Professor Steve O'Rahilly, an obesity expert at the University of Cambridge, stated that: "If we could treat obesity like we treat high blood pressure, with safe, effective and affordable drugs, this would be an enormous boon to health care.

"However, to date obesity drugs that have been effective have not been safe, and conversely those that are safer are relatively ineffective,” he added. "The results with this new drug demonstrate that, over a six-month period, it is quite effective.”

"However, as the drug is likely to have actions on parts of the brain not involved in weight control, the risk of serious side-effects on longer term administration will need to be watched very carefully,” said Professor Iain Broom.

Broom also stated that it is early to assert that tesofensine drastically out-performed rival anti-obesity drugs, since it has not been widely tested like its rivals.

However, Professor Mike Lean, a human nutrition expert from the University of Glasgow, agreed the drug looks like sibutramine, a licensed drug that has a strong safety record.

"The results are generally interesting but a lot more research is needed before anyone should be given it in routine practice,” Lean said.

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On the Net:

• University of Copenhagen

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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