The New Obesity Drug APD356 Experimented
A new anti-obesity drug APD356 is still in its stage of experimentation and clinical trials, but the initial experiments with this drug have given some interesting results. The clinical trial for the drug was meant for a relatively shorter time period of 4 weeks only according to the manufacturer of this drug, Arena Pharmaceuticals.
Over a period of 28 days in the trial period of phase 2, subjects showed a reduction in weight by 2.9 pounds on an average when administered a 15mg dose as compared to just 0.7 pounds of weight loss for the subjects who were on placebo. APD356 is said to be affecting the serotonin receptors in the hypothalamus area of the brain which plays an important part in food intake and metabolism.
The new pill has some similarities to the combination of the drug Fenfluramine and Phentermine. In fact Fenfluramine worked in a similar way by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain in such a way that it affected the appetite of the person. The Fen-Phen drug combination was banned as it damaged the heart valves.
According to the drug manufacturer of APD356, Fen-Phen hit more brain receptors than necessary but according to the pharmaceutical company but the initial clinical trials of this new weight loss drug APD356 does not show any heart valve damage after 4 weeks. This was ascertained by taking an electrocardiogram for the subjects at 29 and 90 days after they received their first dose.
Source: Diet Drug Report, February 10, 2006
|
