Article: New Drug

Just before i took an LOA I meant to post this:

An experimental drug intended to duplicate the weight-reducing
effect of one member of the fen-phen diet pill combination but
without the side effects has succeeded in a small clinical
trial, according to the drug's developer.

The developer, Arena Pharmaceuticals, said that in a midstage
clinical trial, obese people who took the highest dose of the
drug lost an average of 2.9 pounds after 28 days, compared with
0.7 pounds for those getting a placebo.

Two lower doses of the drug did not produce a significant
weight loss compared with placebo. At the start of the trial,
participants weighed an average of 223 pounds.

The drug, called APD356, stimulates a receptor in the brain
that is thought to regulate food intake. It is the same
mechanism of action of Wyeth's drug fenfluramine, which was
withdrawn from the market after being linked to heart valve
damage.

Arena says its drug is much more specific in binding to that
receptor and so should avoid the side effects.

Jack Lief, Arena's chief executive, said that the company "saw
nothing to give us pause" in the trial, in which heart function
was monitored by echocardiography.

Still, the company must do much longer trials, lasting at least
one year, to rule out side effects and to be able to apply for
approval of the drug, he said.

Dr. Steven R. Smith, the lead investigator in the trial, said
that the weight reduction from the once-a-day pill was "about
where you'd expect a good drug to be at the four-week time
point" though a little short of a weight loss goal of one pound
a week.

Dr. Smith is associate professor at the Pennington Biomedical
Research Center at Louisiana State University.

APD356 is the lead product for Arena, a still-unprofitable
biotechnology company based in San Diego.




Carol Frilegh
****
Toronto , Celiac SCD 4 years
There is no substitute for the right food!

"Ignoramus20928" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 May 2005 07:04:43 -0400, Carol Frilegh
wrote:
Just before i took an LOA I meant to post this:

An experimental drug intended to duplicate the weight-reducing
effect of one member of the fen-phen diet pill combination but
without the side effects has succeeded in a small clinical
trial, according to the drug's developer.

The developer, Arena Pharmaceuticals, said that in a midstage
clinical trial, obese people who took the highest dose of the
drug lost an average of 2.9 pounds after 28 days, compared with
0.7 pounds for those getting a placebo.

I want to take that placebo...

i

You can't Ig, it's a carb ;-)

--
Dr. Dickie
Skepticult member in good standing #394-00596-438
Poking kooks with a pointy stick.
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries,
is not 'Eureka!' ('I found it!'), but rather 'hmm....that's funny...'"
- Isaac Asimov