Anti-obesity drug does not produce meaningful weight loss
An experimental weight loss drug known as MK-0557 is unlikely to be sufficient as monotherapy to treat obesity, the results from a recently published trial suggest (Cell Metabolism 2006;4:275).
MK-0557 is a potent, highly selective neuropeptide Y5 receptor antagonist — NPY
was one of the first hunger factors identified and the NPY system has
long been considered a prime target for anti-obesity drug therapy.
The trial was a 12-month double blind, randomised, placebo-controlled
trial in 1,661 overweight and obese patients who received placebo or
1mg MK-0557 daily.
The researchers found that although weight loss in the drug group was
significantly more than that in the placebo group (3.4kg versus 1.8kg;
P<0.001), it was not clinically meaningful and less than that seen
after 52 weeks’ treatment with other anti-obesity drugs, including
orlistat, sibutramine and rimonabant.
“Based on the modest degree of weight loss observed at 52 weeks
of treatment, optimal combination therapy would need to employ an agent
that demonstrates
synergism with MK-0557,” they conclude.
Steven Heymsfield, of Merck & Co and one of the researchers, commented
that the findings add to a growing sense that a lot of different targets
will need to be tried in order to unwire the food intake system with
a combination of drugs. |
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