New drug makes weight loss saferSeptember 27, 2007More than 60 percent of American women are overweight, with nearly a third falling into the category of obese and at greater risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Until now, there has been no safe, long-term medical remedy that tackles unwanted weight gain. Dr. Nir Barak of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine has developed what could be a new weight-loss wonder drug. In conjunction with the drug company Obecure, Dr. Barak developed a new formulation called HistaleanTM, based on betahistine, an approved drug marketed worldwide for the treatment of vertigo. Betahistine has been available to health authorities for over 30 years. Betahistine is believed to block receptors in the brain - the H1 and H3 receptors - which are connected to one's sense of fullness and desire to eat fatty foods. It has an excellent safety profile and has been used for treatment by more than 100 million patients suffering from vertigo and dizziness in Canada and Europe.
The repurposed pill, Histalean, has been found to quell the desire to consume fatty foods, and the effects have been most pronounced in women. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, about 32% of adult American women under 54 (about 25 million women) suffer from obesity. "Our new results suggest a strong gender-and-age-effect and support the potential of the drug as a breakthrough anti-obesity agent in women 50 years old or less," confirmed Dr. Yaffa Beck, Obecure's CEO. According to some estimates, obesity results in thousands of deaths a year and accounts for $117 billion in U.S. health care expenses annually. Clearly, a breakthrough in this area will not only make women look and feel better, but it could save their lives as well. A recent Phase II clinical trial of the new drug in the U.S. suggests that women under the age of 50 who took Histalean for 12 weeks lost 7 times the weight of those taking a placebo. What's most important to the researchers involved is that none of the 281 patients, males and females aged 18-65, complained of any serious side effects. The trial, completed this August, was supervised by U.S. weight-loss guru Dr. Robert Kushner. The women who took the pill reported, "It wasn't hard." "I wasn't thinking about food." "I was content." Dr. Barak explains why this is good news, "All the drugs in the diet pill market today have serious side effects. They may help a woman lose weight, but with that weight loss comes all sorts of bad things like depression and even suicide. Safety issues are a real concern for the FDA. But because this new drug has already been proven safe for other indications, we think Histalean has real blockbuster potential." The recent results were based on a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on people with a Body Mass Index ranging from 30 to 40. (A BMI of 30 and above indicate obesity.) The study was conducted at 19 investigation sites across the U.S. over a 12 week treatment period. The subgroup of high-dose Histalean-treated women lost an average of 2.91% of their weight versus placebo group which lost only 0.4 %. Dr. Barak's drug is also expected to compete for the $28 billion market of cholesterol-reducing drugs such as Lipitor. It could also be used in parallel with anti-psychotic drugs, which have unwanted side effects of extreme weight gain among mental health patients. American Friends of Tel Aviv University Science News and Science Current Events Tag Cloud This tag cloud is a visual representation of term frequencies of random science news topics with common terms grouped together and emphasized by their display size. Lymph Nodes Marine Species Greenhouse Gases Mad Cow Disease Mental Disorder Peptides Magnetic Field Spacecraft Anesthesia Melanin Upper Atmosphere Rem Sleep Milk Circumcision Allergic Reactions Vitamin B12 Mitochondria Lymphoma Pain Diabetic Retinopathy Wildlife Conservation Gravitational Wave Wireless sensor Brain Region Fertility
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Related Weight Gain Current Events and Weight Gain News Articles Three to six months to lose weight gained in pregnancy is normal Once the baby arrives, many new mothers want to return to their former weight quickly - just like film stars who appear in the media in bikinis just weeks after giving birth. IUPUI study finds living near fast food outlet not a weighty problem for kids A new study by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) researchers contradicts the conventional wisdom that living near a fast food outlet increases weight in children and that living near supermarkets, which sell fresh fruit and vegetables as well as so called junk food, lowers weight. 'Shortcuts' of the mind lead to miscalculations of weight and caloric intake, says Penn study Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a cognitive shortcut, or heuristic, they call "Unit Bias," which causes people to ignore vital, obvious information in their decision-making process, points to a fundamental flaw in the modern, evolved mind and may also play a role in the American population's 30 years of weight gain. Association between obstructive sleep apnea and weight gain found According to a research abstract that will be presented on Thursday, June11, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a link exists between the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and weight gain. Snoring pregnant women at higher risk for gestational diabetes If you are pregnant and your mate complains your frequent snoring is rattling the bedroom windows, you may have bigger problems than an annoyed, sleep-deprived partner. Health risks begin in overweight range, BMI doesn't tell whole story Being overweight is a health concern, and using only body mass index (BMI) to determine weight classification may not give an accurate picture of a person's health, according to an advisory published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Sleep restriction results in weight gain despite decreases in appetite and consumption According to a research abstract that will be presented on Monday, June 8 at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in the presence of free access to food, sleep restricted subjects reported decrease in appetite, food cravings and food consumption; however, they gained weight over the course of the study. Study further expands understanding of leptin's role in brain neurocircuitry In investigating the complex neurocircuitry behind weight gain and glucose control, scientists have known that the hormone leptin plays a key role in the process. Study suggests obese women should not gain weight For years, doctors and other health-care providers have managed pregnant patients according to guidelines issued by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Music played to premature babies may lessen pain and improve feeding habits Music played to premature babies may help to reduce their pain and encourage better oral feeding, suggests research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. More Weight Gain Current Events and Weight Gain News Articles |
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