Diabetes Drug May Help Obese People Eat Less
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Obese subjects ate nearly 1,000
Fewer calories per day when they injected pramlintide, a
Drug approved for the treatment of insulin-dependent
Diabetes, before every meal, a new study shows.
The subjects were also less likely to binge eat and ate
Less when faced with "fast-food challenges" of deep-dish
Pizza, sugary sodas and ice cream.
Pramlintide is a synthetic version of the human hormone
Amylin, which is secreted by the pancreas along with
Insulin after meals. Amylin is referred to as a "satiety"
Hormone, meaning it signals a feeling of fullness to let
The body know it is time to stop eating.
San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals makes pramlintide,
Which is sold under the trade name Symlin. In previous
Studies, the company demonstrated that people taking Symlin
For 1 year lost 8 percent of their body weight. The current
Study was designed to evaluate how the drug contributes to
Weight loss.
Dr. Christian Weyer of Amylin and his colleagues randomly
Assigned 88 obese subjects self-injection with pramlintide
Or placebo before each meal for 6 weeks. During the course
Of the study, participants underwent three "fast-food
Challenges."
By the third day of the study, the subjects on pramlintide
Were consuming about 750 fewer calories a day than those on
Placebo and 990 calories a day less than before they began
Taking the drug. At day 43, those on pramlintide were
Eating about 500 fewer calories than those on placebo.
While the pramlintide-placebo calorie intake difference
Shrank as the patients on the drug lost weight, it remained
"robust," the researchers note, which is "noteworthy" given
That people typically start feeling hungrier after they
Lose a significant amount of weight.
The subjects on pramlintide also ate smaller portions and
Consumed less during the fast food challenges. The
Pramlintide group ate 385 fewer calories on the challenge
At 44 days compared with the initial challenge on day 2,
While the corresponding number for the placebo group was
109 fewer calories.
By day 44, the pramlintide group lost an average of 2
Percent of their total body weight, compared with an
Average gain of 0.11 percent for those on placebo.
While peptide hormones like pramlintide have been shown to
Induce nausea, Weyer and his team point out, they used a
April 13th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Symlin was designed for folks with T1 or for those with T2 who can’t control
their A1C with the addition of insulin. The disadvantage here is that you
inject before each major meal. A major meal is defined here as 250+
calories and 30+ carbs. Unless I was totally out of control with my current
meds, I don’t think I would want to carry this stuff with me all the time
and inject at least three times per day. Unlike Januvia, it is reported as
having some of the appetite suppression effects of Byetta. Nor is it
currently available in a pen delivery system.