A new ‘Trojan Horse’ weight loss drug is opening up exciting though not uncontroversial avenues for obesity treatment.
Much has been made of the swathe of new weight loss drugs to hit the market in recent years — not least of all by airlines looking to save a few bucks — as have revelations about the possibility of ‘brown fat’ activation in helping you shed a few pounds. However, a new breakthrough may have just trumped the lot…
Scientists have unveiled a new type of drug that could revolutionise current obesity treatment. This new drug, described by Associate Professor Christoffer Clemmensen from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen, leverages the brain’s plasticity to achieve significant weight loss, potentially surpassing the efficacy of popular drugs like Ozempic.
Clemmensen’s study, published yesterday in the journal Nature, highlights the use of a weight loss hormone known as GLP-1. By employing GLP-1 as a ‘Trojan Horse,’ researchers managed to deliver a specific molecule directly into the brains of mice, targeting and altering the brain’s plasticity to induce weight loss. The results were clear and definitive…
How The ‘Trojan Horse’ Drug Works
“The effect of GLP-1 combined with these molecules is very strong. In some cases, the mice lose twice as much weight as mice treated with GLP-1 only,” Clemmensen explains. This implies that future patients might achieve substantial weight loss with lower dosages, potentially reducing the vast list of side effects common with existing weight-loss medications.
The drug is currently in the preclinical phase, with tests conducted on cells and experimental animals. The next crucial step involves clinical trials with human participants. If successful, this new drug could become a game-changer in the fight against obesity, offering an alternative for those who do not respond well to current treatments.
The key innovation lies in the drug’s ability to affect the brain’s glutamatergic neurotransmitter system — that was a new one for us too, don’t worry — which plays a crucial role in appetite regulation. By attaching a molecule that blocks the NMDA receptor to GLP-1, researchers created a more targeted approach to weight loss that avoids the non-specific effects and severe side effects of previous treatments.
Clemmensen emphasises the potential broader applications of this technology:
“In this study, we have focused on obesity and weight loss, but in fact, this is a completely new approach for delivering drugs to specific parts of the brain. So, I hope our research can pave the way for a whole new class of drugs for treating conditions like neurodegenerative diseases or psychiatric disorders.”
The Future Of Obesity Treatment
As the human body evolved to defend and maintain a certain body weight, primarily for survival during food scarcity, the modern era’s obesity epidemic presents a massive challenge. With over one billion people worldwide classified as obese, the need for effective treatments is more urgent than ever.
This new drug’s potential to rewire the brain’s neural connections marks a promising step forward and, while it may take up to eight years for this drug to hit the market, rest assured this writer will be at the front of the queue when it does…