Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk says it has developed a compound that’s proven to be a one-two punch for urge for food suppression and weight reduction in mice.
Ozempic promotes weight loss by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone the physique naturally produces after consuming, so customers really feel full for longer. This new potential remedy harnesses the facility of GLP-1 whereas activating the receptor for leptin, a hormone launched by fats cells that indicators the mind that consuming ought to cease as a result of sufficient power has been saved.
“Leptin augments weight reduction when utilized in mixture with different weight reduction brokers, together with [GLP-1 drugs],” the workforce from Novo Nordisk and the University of Michigan wrote in a paper revealed Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. “This remark means that utilizing leptin as a part of combinatorial therapies represents a possible method to the extra efficacious remedy of weight problems.”
In creating the every day injection, the researchers constructed upon data of neurons in mice brains that reply to indicators for GLP-1 and leptin. They discovered comparable neurons in rhesus monkeys.
The researchers say they haven’t decided if people have the identical neurons that may be focused with this remedy to scale back meals consumption and physique weight.
“The objective of this paper was to not decide the viability of this method in people,” Randy Seeley, a professor of surgical procedure, inside drugs and dietary sciences on the University of Michigan Medical School, advised The Post.
“Rather the objective right here was to show that this sort of molecule might produce weight reduction in a mouse the place leptin by itself doesn’t,” Seeley added. “We additionally got down to show that each the leptin and GLP-1 components of the molecule had been important for the load loss.”
Seeley mentioned the workforce’s paper “units a regular for a way the scientific neighborhood ought to discover the mechanisms” of this twin method.
The analysis follows a KFF Health Tracking Poll in May by which 12% of adults reported taking a GLP-1 drug sooner or later. Six p.c mentioned they’re at present utilizing one.
There are quite a lot of GLP-1 medication in the marketplace to deal with weight problems or Type 2 diabetes. Ozempic and Wegovy comprise semaglutide, whereas Zepbound and Mounjaro comprise tirzepatide and Victoza has liraglutide.
These medication differ of their dosage schedules and weight reduction results. Novo Nordisk can also be creating a weight loss pill, amycretin, that led to 13.1% weight reduction in 12 weeks in obese or overweight folks throughout a Phase 1 trial.