New research has developed a new drug that can promote weight loss, reduce appetite, increase energy expenditure and improve insulin sensitivity without causing nausea or loss of muscle mass.

Our weight largely depends on the balance between the energy we consume and the energy we burn. Eating more and burning less creates a positive energy balance, leading to weight gain. Conversely, eating less and burning more results in a negative energy balance, leading to weight loss.

Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have found a new weight-loss medicine that suppresses appetite, boosts energy expenditure, and enhances insulin sensitivity-all without causing nausea or muscle loss. This breakthrough, published in Nature, may be a new therapy for millions of people with obesity and type 2 diabetes who do not respond well to current treatments.

The study

In the Nature study, University of Copenhagen researchers detailed the action of a new drug that suppresses appetite without resulting in muscle loss or side effects such as nausea and vomiting. It also ramps up energy expenditure, enhancing the body’s ability to burn calories-a feature absent in the current generation of treatments.

It acts on the neurokinin 2 receptor. The team found the target by performing a genetic screen to identify receptors that, when stimulated, would promote energy balance and glucose homeostasis. Their results were remarkable: safe activation of this receptor promoted calorie intake and decreased appetite without any signs of nausea.

Further experiments then showed that not only did the activation of NK2R result in a reduction in body weight, but it also reversed diabetes through an increase in insulin sensitivity and decreases in blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol.

Implications for the future

This might spell the next generation in drug therapies, providing more potent and tolerable treatments against type 2 diabetes and obesity, affecting almost 400 million people worldwide.

Source: Nature