Daiichi Sankyo : AZOR Reduces Blood Pressure in Difficult to Treat Special Populations

May 15, 2008 - Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., announced that data presented at the American Society of Hypertension's Twenty-Third Annual Scientific Meeting (ASH 2008) in New Orleans demonstrated that the powerful combination drug AZOR™ (amlodipine and olmesartan medoxomil) safely and effectively helped patients across several major subpopulations lower their blood pressure (BP). An analysis of patient subgroups from the pivotal registrational trial demonstrated the efficacy of AZOR in several key difficult to treat patient groups including people of African and Hispanic/Latino decent, people with high body mass index (BMI) and those with diabetes... [PDF] Daiichi Sankyo's Press Release -

Theratechnologies ; Tesamorelin in Growth Hormone Deficient Abdominal Obesity

May 15, 2008 - Theratechnologies (TSX:TH) announced a strategic agreement with both the Massachusetts General Hospital ("MGH") and Dr. Steven Grinspoon to explore the use of tesamorelin in relative growth hormone deficient abdominally obese (GHDAO) subjects. MGH, under the direction of Dr. Grinspoon, will sponsor and conduct a clinical trial with tesamorelin in subjects that have excess visceral adipose tissue (VAT) with a moderate growth hormone deficiency and who are abdominally obese.The combination of these factors is now being recognized as an important contributor to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, one of the reasonable approaches to lower the cardiovascular risk in these subjects is to decrease VAT levels with tesamorelin to replenish growth hormone secretion, and to measure certain key markers of cardiovascular risk. Theratechnologies has demonstrated in various Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials that tesamorelin significantly and specifically reduces VAT in certain patient populations... Theratechnologies' Press Release -

NESTLÉ SCIENCE AND RESEARCH AND GE : COLLABORATION TO EXPLORE NEW FRONTIERS IN DIAGNOSTICS FOR HEALTH AND NUTRITION

May 14, 2008 – The Nestlé Research Center, Lausanne, Switzerland and GE Global Research, the General Electric Company’s (NYSE: GE) centralized research and development organization, announce an innovative collaboration to scientifically assess associations between body composition, metabolic status, diet and lifestyle habits...

...“The use of GE’s diagnostic tools will provide Nestlé scientists with more information on how diet and lifestyle measures can be optimized to help people lead healthier lives and ultimately make healthcare systems more efficient by more effectively managing and treating obesity.”... GE's Press Release -

Elixir Pharmaceuticals : Issuance of SIRT Patent Covering Development of New Therapies Based on Breakthrough Science.

04.28.08 - Elixir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced today issuance of U.S. Patent No. 7,351,542, which covers the discovery of new and existing chemical entities that modulate the activity of a human sirtuin, SIRT 2. Elixir's rights to this patent were made possible through an exclusive license.
Sirtuins are a class of enzymes believed to play a significant role in diseases of aging, including type 2 diabetes and obesity. SIRT 2 is one of the seven human SIRT (or sirtuin) enzymes. Elixir co-founder Dr. Lenny Guarente of MIT and others have shown that the down-regulation of SIRT 2 elicits positive effects on metabolism. Therefore, pharmaceutical compounds that block the activity of this enzyme could have clinical utility to treat a range of metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. This new patent adds to Elixir's broad portfolio of issued patents and patent applications related to the development of sirtuin-based therapeutics... [PDF] Elixir Pharmaceuticals' Press Release -

Pfizer : Research Consortium to Expand Understanding of Diabetes and Obesity Pathobiology

April 25, 2008 - Pfizer has entered into a collaboration agreement with four major research universities – University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB); Caltech; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and University of Massachusetts – and Entelos, a physiological modeling company, to re-examine the regulatory mechanisms of human energy metabolism.
Pfizer is funding the three-year and $14 million Insulin Resistance Pathway (IRP) Project to look at insulin signaling in adipose (fat) cells to increase understanding of diabetes and obesity, inextricably linked conditions that affect 7 percent of the U.S. population... Pfizer's Press Release -

VIVUS : Third Phase 3 CONQUER (OB-303) Trial

Apr 22, 2008 - VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS), a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of novel therapeutic products, announced that it has completed enrollment in the final of three phase 3 studies of Qnexa(TM) in overweight and obese patients with co-morbidities including hypertension, dyslipidemia, or type 2 diabetes. The CONQUER study (OB-303) enrolled patients with a Body Mass Index ("BMI") ranging from 27 to 45 and at least two additional co-morbidities. The co-primary endpoints for this study are the mean percent weight loss and the percentage of subjects achieving weight loss of 5% or more... VIVUS' Press Release -

Amylin Pharmaceuticals : Phase 2B Dose-Ranging Clinical Study of Pramlintide/Metreleptin Combination Treatment in Obesity

May 5, 2008 - Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMLN) announced the initiation of a Phase 2B clinical study evaluating various dosing combinations of pramlintide, an analog of the natural hormone amylin, and recombinant human leptin (r-metHuLeptin; metreleptin) for the treatment of obesity. The objective of this dose-ranging study is to support dose selection for Phase 3, and to inform the ongoing development of a convenient delivery system for this combination regimen. The six-month, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multi-center study will enroll approximately 600 overweight and obese subjects and is expected to complete in mid-2009.

"There is a tremendous medical need and market demand for a weight loss product that meets both safety and efficacy expectations of patients and physicians, and we believe that our integrated neurohormonal approach to obesity holds great promise for achieving this profile... Amylin Pharmaceuticals' Press Release -