New drug twice as effective in tackling obesity

A POWERFUL new weight loss drug originally developed to treat brain diseases is twice as effective as the best existing anti-obesity medicines, research has shown.

Obese patients given the drug tesofensine daily for 24 weeks lost around two stone.

The amount of weight they shed was at least double what could have been achieved with the currently available anti-obesity drugs sibutramine and rimonabant, said experts.

Tesofensine, which suppresses hunger and prevents over-eating, targets neurosignalling chemicals in the brain.

Its potential for fighting obesity was discovered by accident while being tested as a treatment for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Doctors found that obese patients given the drug began to lose weight.

The study conducted in Denmark involved 161 obese patients with an average weight of about 16 stone.

The were prescribed varying daily doses of tesofensine, or an inactive placebo, for 24 weeks.

At the end of the trial, patients on the two highest 0.5 milligram and 1.0 milligram doses of the drug had lost 1.77 stone and 2.01 stone of weight respectively.

This was more than twice the weight loss experienced by patients taking sibutramine or rimonabant, marketed as Reductil and Acomplia, said researchers writing in The Lancet medical journal.

Tesofensine was about four times more effective than a third drug, orlistat.

The authors, led by Professor Arne Astrup, from the University of Copenhagen, concluded: “This phase II study shows that tesofensine is very effective in producing weight loss in patients over six months.”

Obesity expert Professor Steve O’Rahilly, from Cambridge University, said: “The results with this new drug demonstrate that, over a six month period, it is quite effective. However, as the drug is likely to have actions on parts of the brain not involved in weight control, the risk of serious side effects on longer term administration will need to be watched very carefully.”