Raspberry Ketone Plus will help you burn fat faster

On the TV show called 'Fat Busting Metabolism Boosters' hosted by the popular dr. Oz, there was a person who had lost a lot of weight as a result of using Raspberry Ketone Plus. What is Raspberry Ketone? Raspberry Ketone Plus has been known to aid the weight loss process by producing Adiponectin, an important enzyme that helps to effectively metabolize the food that you eat.













Ingredients:
This product contains African Mango, Acai & Resveratrol, Apple Cider Vinegar, Kelp, Grapefruit, Caffeine, Green Tea Extract, and Raspberry Ketone.


How To Use:
You are to take two capsules per day with a large glass of water.



Pros:
•Will help you burn fat faster

•Can help to fend off free radical damage in the body

•Promotes higher energy levels so you’re more active throughout the day

•Can reduce your appetite level



Cons:
•You may experience feelings of anxiety or jitteriness while taking this product

•Some people will have difficulty sleeping if they are very sensitive to caffeine

•You will still be required to follow a smart diet plan with this product

•Proper exercise should also be performed in order to reap maximum benefits

Want to look good this summer?

Phen375 is a 100% legal weight loss diet pills containing some of the most powerful fat-burning ingredients ever developed. Phentemine 375 has been developed to stop the cravings that normally cause a diet to fail before it even gets started. In fact, with Phentemine 375, a strong willpower is not required; its powerful appetite suppression means that calorie intake remains low, while cravings are kept under control. Phen375 helps your body to metabolize or burn fat off easier. Phen375 is currently one of the best selling pharmacy strength fat burner, energy booster and appetite suppressant.



On average most of the users experience 10Lbs of fat loss in just 2 weeks! People who took Phen375 for 6 weeks have lost 25Lbs. Its main ingredients include Dehydroepiandrosterone for calorie burning, L-Carnitine to release stored body fat, Trimethylxanthine which burns the body fat that has been released by L-Carnitine, Dimethypentylamine (an Epehedra substitute) and Sympathomimetic Amine, both of which has been shown to significantly increase metabolic rates. The manufacturer also claims that L-Carnitine is able to mimic the HCG hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin) in its ability to release, transport and metabolize stored body fat into energy. This powerful combination reduces appetite, stimulates metabolism, burns fat and helps prevent fat from being stored by the body. Want to know more, visit the official website.

Shed those Holiday pounds quickly with Nuratrim

Nuratrim is not like any regular slimming pills, it’s been designed to help you every step of the way. It can reduce your appetite, burn fat and even reduce cellulite. This is a very unique slimming pill.


What does Nuratrim do?

· Suppresses your appetite

· Burns fat

· Increases metabolism

· Increases your confidence

· Cuts your calories by almost 20%

· Starts to work right away

· Can help in management of weight control

· Contributes to reduce your appetite

· Faster metabolic rate

· Ability to easily burn fat

· Safe, natural and effective

· No known side effects] waiting for claims sheet to confirm

Most people are overweight because they consume more calories than they burn. There is also a common myth that in order to lose weight you have to cut out all the foods you enjoy. This does not have to be the case. By using Nuratrim you can reduce your appetite so that you can still eat the foods you enjoy but you will not feel the need to each as much, resulting safe weight loss.

By not cutting out your favourite foods completely you are less likely to break your diet and give in to the cravings. You can still lose weight and eat the foods that you love. You can order Nuratrim here

New diet pill ZGN-433 works, with no side-effects

ZGN-433 caused 24 obese women to lose, on average, a kilogram a week for a month – with no harmful side effects. This is a stunning rate of weight loss, especially as the women ate normally and were not given exercise advice. The drug works by encouraging the fat tissues to release fatty acids into the bloodstream to be converted into energy. The same drug has also been discovered to encourage the production of ketone bodies releases the fat to be burned up. larger trials will still be required and more funds will still have to be raised to aid this purpose of marketing an otherwise promising diet pill. If the redeveloped drug well achieves its purpose to combat obesity problems, market reception is expected to tremendously rise.

Four people on rimonabant had killed themselves

A major trial linked the drug to a slightly higher suicide rate. The trial wasn't testing the drug's weight loss benefits, but whether it might prevent heart problems. It was supposed to follow more than 18,000 patients in 42 countries for three years. Roughly half were given rimonabant while the other half were given a placebo. European officials shut it down and pulled the drug from the market. It was never licensed in the United States, but was sold as Acomplia, Riobant, Slimona, as well as under other names in Europe. "Obviously the suicides are tragedies," said Eric Topol, director of Scripps Translational Science Institute and the study's lead author. "But we accept trade-offs in medicine and the psychiatric side effects might have been acceptable if we had found greater cardiovascular benefits later," he said.

He said rimonabant might still have been useful for fighting obesity, and that measures like stomach stapling surgeries also come with significant risk. Other experts disagreed. "Any mortality associated with cardiovascular preventive therapy is generally viewed as unacceptable," wrote Matthijs Boekholdt and Ron Peters of the department of cardiology in the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, in an accompanying commentary.
Source: MSNBC

Zotrim could be the answer to your weight loss prayers

Scientists at Liverpool University found that women who took the pill with their breakfast had a much lower appetite at lunch time. Women can cut their daily calorie intake by almost a fifth if they simply take a herbal diet pill, research reveals today. The supplement has also been shown to help those with a sweet tooth - reducing the temptation to indulge in sugary snacks. They found that women who took the pill with their breakfast had a much lower appetite at lunch time - cutting their calorie intake by 17.6 per cent. Of 58 volunteers who were given either Zotrim or a dummy pill in the morning, those on the herbal supplement only picked at their afternoon meal. Those on Zotrim ate on average 132 fewer calories - the equivalent of a Milky Way or can of cola. If the effects were replicated throughout the day, the pill would cut a dieter's daily count by 400 or 500 calories, equivalent to two bars of chocolate or a kebab. Zotrim is designed to make the user feel fuller for longer. But it also appears to take the edge off a sweet tooth, cutting the women's selection of biscuits and chocolate mousse from the buffet by 27 per cent. Source DailyMail.

Weight loss drug Qnexa submitted to the FDA for approval

The Phase 3 clinical program evaluated Qnexa in more than 4,500 patients in the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The average baseline weight in one trial was 223 pounds and another trial had an average baseline weight of 256 pounds. All patients were asked to follow a diet representing a 500-calorie/day deficit and advised to implement a simple lifestyle modification program. "The weight loss of up to 37 pounds combined with significant improvements in weight-related medical conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes, demonstrates the importance of treating obesity, which has become a major epidemic in the United States," Leland F. Wilson, chief executive officer for Vivus, said in a statement. Across both 56-week studies, the most commonly reported side effects were dry mouth, tingling and constipation, the application said.



Source: UPI

New anti-obesity drug Liraglutide significantly reduce weight

The drug, liraglutide, is the first of a new class of anti-obesity agents which mimic the action of a hormone that occurs naturally in the gut, reducing hunger. Experts said it had "great potential" because it also reduced the risk factors for Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Diabetes already affects more than two million people in Britain and is rising so fast it threatens to overwhelm the National Health Service (NHS). "It tells the body to produce more insulin and the brain to stop eating. It is a naturally occurring satiety hormone.



"The problem is that it is eliminated from the blood stream within minutes. The company (Novo Nordisk) has added a molecule to make it more resistant to elimination, so it lasts for a full day."





Read more: NZHerald

Users of one of the drugs, Alli, can lose 3lb a week

Users of one of the drugs, Alli, can lose 3lb a week, according to its manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline. This equates to more than three stones over four months.
The drug, which is a £1.60-a-day diluted version of the prescription-only drug Xenical, works by reducing the body's ability to process fat by about 25 per cent.

The undigested fat passes straight through the body, creating what is described as "an urgent need to go to the bathroom".
Professor Gareth Williams, professor of medicine at the University of Bristol and the author of Obesity: Science To Practice, said that the side-effects are so severe that "possibly few users will even finish their first pack of Alli, let alone buy a second".

Read more on: Telegraph.co.uk

New Weight Loss products on the FDA alert list

Herbal Xenicol, Slimbionic and Xsvelten are now on the FDA alert list.
Also the undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients added to the warning are fenproporex, fluoxetine, furosemide and cetilistat. The FDA warned consumers late last year not to purchase or consume 28 different products marketed for weight loss. The latest warning is the second update to that list, which now includes 72 products, and the agency said it would continue to update the list as needed. "These tainted weight-loss products pose a great risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed maximum recommended dosages," Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a news release. "Consumers have no way of knowing that these products contain dangerous drugs that could cause serious consequences to their health."

The products included in the alert, some of which are marketed as dietary supplements are promoted and sold on various Web sites and in some retail stores and beauty salons, the FDA said. The products have not been approved by the FDA and are illegal, the agency said.


Source: Honnews

Acai Berry Blast

Acai Berry Blast is a dietary and weight loss supplement that is to help you shed unwanted pounds, boost your energy, detoxify your body and feel better. Containing the wonder fruit, the acai berry which hails from the Amazon Rain Forest, Acai Berry Blast captures the powerful antioxidant properties of this tiny berry and delivers it to you in a capsule form.
Acai berries are known for their comprehensive nutrition profile and have been celebrated as one of nature’s most complete foods by many health and nutrition experts.

FDA said consumers shouldn't take the weight-loss pill Venom Hyperdrive 3.0

Venom Hyperdrive 3.0, marketed by California-based Applied Lifescience Research Industries Inc., contains sibutramine, a chemical that can put people at risk for addiction and can increase peoples blood pressure and heart rate, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the FDA. Consumers who have the product should stop taking it immediately and contact their doctor if they are experiencing any adverse health effects, the agency said. Applied Lifescience Research initiated a recall of the product in late December after the FDA said the dietary supplement contained sibutramine, according to the agency's press release.


The FDA's announcement comes about a month after the agency said more than 60 weight-loss products were tainted with powerful ingredients, including those used in antiseizure medications and some chemicals suspected to cause cancer.

Venom Hyperdrive 3.0 comes in red plastic bottles and can be found in retail stores in the U.S., as well as in Canada, Poland, Sweden, Hungary, South Africa, the Netherlands, Australia, France and the United Kingdom.

Applied Lifescience Research's Web site says only "trace" amounts of sibutramine can be found in the product, the FDA said, but the agency's analysis showed Venom Hyperdrive contains a significant amount.

"Nowhere do we state that Venom Hyperdrive contained trace amounts of subutramine," said Charles Weller, general counsel for Applied Lifescience Research. He added that the company's Web site only mentioned that trace amounts of sibutramine weren't harmful, not that trace amounts were in the product.

Mr. Weller said the company had begun replacing Venom Hyperdrive 3.0 about six months ago with a newer version. He said the company isn't certain how the sibutramine got into the original product, but said he believes it was contaminated by raw-material suppliers in China.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Appesat (seaweed) could help in the battle against obesity

An expanding pill that tricks the brain into thinking the stomach is full.
The pill is taken at least half an hour before meals and works by reducing appetite so that smaller portions are eaten. As it swells, the pill, called Appesat, stretches the stomach wall, stimulating receptors that send a signal to the brain to say that the stomach is full. The effects are similar to those of a gastric balloon, an inflatable implant surgically inserted into the stomach and then filled with saline solution. The new pill simply needs to be swallowed with water. After a few hours, it gets broken down by acid in the stomach and is flushed out of the body as waste.

 

It has been approved as a medical device by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority, the government body that vets new treatments. Recent research predicted one in three adults in the UK will be obese by the time London stages the Olympic Games in 2012. Source: DailyMail.co.uk

Weight-loss pill Lorcaserin passes early test

In recently released phase 2 trials, the drug, known as lorcaserin, resulted in substantial weight loss in obese men and women. "Lorcaserin is a completely novel mechanism and we think it can bring very robust weight loss. But, also, the safety profile of the compound is excellent," said Dominic P. Behan, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Arena Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, which makes the drug and sponsored a study published in the Dec. 4 issue of the journal Obesity.

"We demonstrated a highly statistically significant, progressive weight loss. This study involved no diet or exercise and the weight loss was rapid and we saw the weight loss in as little as two weeks," he added. A phase 3 trial is under way and, if all goes well, Arena Pharmaceuticals may file a new drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at the end of 2009, Behan said.

With some two-thirds of Americans either overweight or obese, the need for an effective weight loss tool is tremendous. Excess weight can lead to a variety of health problems, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis and type 2 diabetes. "Obesity is an epidemic," said Dr. Stuart Weiss, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at New York University's Langone Medical Center in New York City. "Diabetes trails behind obesity by a short few years and the numbers of patients that are developing diabetes is staggering."

Diet and exercise are proven antidotes for excess weight, but few people are able to sustain such changes and, even if they lose weight, will regain it.
Some weight-loss drugs are already on the market -- such as Xenical and Meridia -- but have certain side effects. The drug Fen-phen, a combination of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, worked for many but was withdrawn from the market in 1997 when it was linked with increased rates of heart valve problems in patients.

Fen-phen acted on serotonin receptors both in the brain and in the heart and therein lay the problem, Behan said.
"The challenge was to design a compound that was purely selective for the receptor involved, namely the 2c receptor [located in the hypothalamus region of the brain and involved in weight loss] and avoiding the 2b receptor [located in the heart]," Behan said.

The result was lorcaserin, which targets the 5-HT2C serotonin receptor only.
For the phase 2 trial, 469 men and women with a body mass index ranging from 30 to 45 were randomly assigned to one of four groups: 10 milligrams (mg) of lorcaserin once a day, 15 mg once a day, 10 mg twice a day, or a placebo.
Participants taking lorcaserin at 10 mg, 15 mg and 20 mg a day lost 4 pounds, 5.7 pounds and 7.9 pounds, respectively, over the 12-week period. Those in the placebo group lost less than a pound.

In the 10 mg, 15 mg and 20 mg groups, respectively, 12.8 percent, 19.5 percent and 31.2 percent of participants lost 5 percent or more of their starting body weight, versus only 2.3 percent of patients on the placebo.
Participants taking the two higher doses of lorcaserin also shaved inches off their waist and dropped their cholesterol levels. Also, their echocardiograms -- ultrasound images of the heart -- were normal.

"It [lorcaserin] certainly looks a bit better [than other weight-loss medications]," Weiss said. "We don't have much out there. They're really just modest medications and they don't do much at all."

Source: iVillage

FDA warning consumers nationwide not to purchase any of the following tainted weight loss products

- Fatloss Slimming
- 2 Day Diet
- 3x Slimming Power
- Japan Lingzhi 24 Hours Diet
- 5x Imelda Perfect Slimming
- 3 Day Diet
- 7 Day Herbal Slim
- 8 Factor Diet

- 7 Diet Day/Night Formula

- 999 Fitness Essence
- Extrim Plus
- GMP
- Imelda Perfect Slim
- Lida DaiDaihua
- Miaozi Slim Capsules
- Perfect Slim
- Perfect Slim 5x
- Phyto Shape
- ProSlim Plus
- Royal Slimming Formula
- Slim 3 in 1
- Slim Express 360
- Slimtech
- Somotrim
- Superslim
- TripleSlim
- Zhen de Shou
- Venom Hyperdrive 3.0

After analysing these products the FDA found they contained undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients, in some case in amounts that exceeded FDA-recommended levels, thereby putting consumers' health at risk.

The director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Dr Janet Woodcock said: "These tainted weight loss products pose a great risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed their maximum recommended dosages.""Consumers have no way of knowing that these products contain powerful drugs that could cause serious health consequences. Therefore FDA is taking this action to protect the health of the American public," she added.Among the undeclared ingredients they found were:

Sibutramine: this can cause high blood pressure, palpitations, tachycardia, seizures, heart, attack, and stroke. It can also interact with other medications to cause adverse reactions. Its safety for use by children under 16 or pregnant or breastfeeding women is unknown.

Rimonabant: an appetite suppressant that has been evaluated but not approved by the FDA for sale in the US. This drug is approved for sale in Europe, where is has been implicated in 5 deaths and 720 reported adverse reactions in the last two years. The drug has also been linked to increased risk of depression and suicidal thoughts.

Phenytoin: an anti-seizure drug.
Phenolphthalein: a suspected carcinogen that is used to test for acidity in chemical experiments. Some of the products are advertised as containing only "herbal" or "natural" ingredients, but in reality contain potentially harmful substances that are not listed on product labels or advertisements.

The FDA warns that:"These products have not been approved by the FDA, are illegal and may be potentially harmful to unsuspecting consumers."If you have bought or own any of these products you should stop taking them and talk to your doctor immediately said the FDA, who also advises consumers to talk to a healthcare professional before buying any weight loss products.The federal agency has inspected a number of firms selling or connected with the selling of these illegal products and is seeking to recall the products.

The FDA may proceed with a number of enforcement actions, escalating from warning letters to seizures, injunctions and criminal prosecution. Whether you are a consumer or healthcare professional, you can report serious adverse events or side effects, or problems with product quality to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program in any of the following ways:

- Going online at http://www.fda.gov/MedWatch/report.htm
- Faxing to the fax number: (800) FDA-0178.-- Calling phone number: (800) FDA-1088.-- Writing to MedWatch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787.
- Filling in postage-paid FDA form 3500 available at: http://www.fda.gov/MedWatch/getforms.htm and then mailing to above address.Click here for more information about these weight loss products and consumer-directed questions and answers.

Source: Medical News Today

The Qnexa phase 3 obesity program

A pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of novel therapeutic products, today announced positive results from the EQUATE study (OB-301), a 28-week, phase 3 obesity trial conducted at 32 sites with Qnexa™, an investigational drug. The EQUATE study met the primary endpoint by demonstrating superior weight loss with both the full-dose and mid-dose of Qnexa, as compared to the individual components and placebo.

Subjects treated with full-dose and mid-dose Qnexa had an average weight loss of 9.2%and 8.5% respectively, as compared to weight loss of 1.7% reported in the placebo group. Average weight loss was 19.8 pounds and 18.2 pounds in the treatment arms as compared to 3.3 pounds in the placebo group. Qnexa was well-tolerated, with no drug-related serious adverse events in the study.

"The results from the EQUATE trial once again confirmed our belief in Qnexa. In addition to hitting the primary endpoints of the study with the full-dose, we were also able to show excellent results with the mid-dose of Qnexa," commented Leland Wilson, president and chief executive officer of VIVUS. "The EQUATE study is the first of three studies in the Qnexa phase 3 obesity program. Data from the EQUIP and CONQUER studies, which combined enrolled over 3,750 subjects, is expected in mid-2009."

Read more

Scientists are trying to understand how Fen-phen behaves in the brain

In order to develop safer anti-obesity drugs with fewer side effects. Once hailed as a miracle weight-loss drug, Fen-phen was removed from the market more than a decade ago for inducing life-threatening side effects, including heart valve lesions.

In a study appearing in the Nov. 25 issue of Neuron, the researchers define a circuit in the brain that explains the ways fenfluramine, a component of Fen-phen, suppresses appetite.“Our findings provide evidence that the neural circuit we’ve proposed is sufficient for the neurotransmitter serotonin to regulate food intake and body weight, ” said Dr. Joel Elmquist, professor of internal medicine and pharmacology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study. “Fen-phen works directly on this pathway. Unfortunately, that drug also adversely affects peripheral tissue such as the heart.”

For the current study, the researchers engineered mice in which the expression of a serotonin receptor called 5-hydroxytryptamine 2C was blocked throughout the entire body. This was previously known to produce obese mice resistant to the anorexic actions of fenfluramine. When activated by serotonin, however, this receptor is also known to suppress appetite. Using this mouse model, the authors engineered another set of mice in which the same serotonin receptor was blocked everywhere in the body except within a group of brain cells called pro-opiomelanocortin, or POMC, neurons. The POMC neurons, which are found in the hypothalamus, are also known to play an important role in suppressing appetite and inducing weight loss.

The researchers found that the animals with no serotonin 2c receptors expectedly developed obesity as well as other metabolism disorders such as increased food intake, hyperactivity and leptin insensitivity. They also were prone to spontaneous seizures, said Dr. Elmquist.In contrast, the mice in which the serotonin receptor was re-expressed and functioning only in the POMC neurons stayed slim and responded to fenfluramine.“The POMC-specific reactivation of the receptor only in POMC neurons normalizes the abnormal metabolism in these mice,” Dr. Elmquist said. “The animals don’t eat excessively.

Their hyperactivity is also gone.”Previous work from the UT Southwestern group led to the hypothesis that Fen-phen worked by activating the serotonin 2c receptor in the POMC neurons in the hypothalamus. The current work provides genetic proof supporting this model.“Conventional wisdom is that fenfluramine increases serotonin release that then activates serotonin receptors in the brain to regulate food intake and body weight, but unfortunately, this drug also causes lesions in heart valves,” he said. “If you could develop a drug that would travel to both the brain and the peripheral tissues, and then give a blocker to protect the heart, it’s possible that you could prevent the harmful side effects and still aid weight loss.

Admittedly, that’s a bit farfetched, but this mouse model could be used to test that theory.”The team’s next step is to determine whether they’ve identified the sole circuit required to suppress appetite and induce weight loss.

Source: UT Southwestern

Banned drug Fenfluramine has been shown to have serious long-term effects

In a report published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, researchers have shown that people who stopped using fenfluramine eleven years ago had damaged heart valves up to seven years later.

Fenfluramine (and the closely related dexfenfluramine) were widely prescribed as half of a so-called 'fen/phen' drug combination used to combat obesity. Since its withdrawal, there have been reports that tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the drug's manufacturers over damage caused. In this study, Charles Dahl from the Central Utah Clinic led a team of researchers who studied the heart condition of 5743 former fenfluramine users. He said, "Valve problems were common in individuals exposed to fenfluramines, more frequent in females and associated with duration of drug use in all valves assessed".

Heart valves, such as the aortic, mitral and tricuspid valves, ensure that blood flows in the correct direction around the heart. When they fail, blood back-flows (termed regurgitation). If the regurgitation is severe enough, congestive heart failure and/or the need for heart valve surgery may occur. Dahl said, "We found clear evidence for a strong, graded association between duration of exposure to fenfluramines and prevalence of aortic regurgitation and for mild or greater mitral and tricuspid regurgitation".

This is the largest study to examine duration of exposure to the drug and the first to estimate the incidence of valvular surgery among prior users. The authors found that 0.44% of former fenfluramine users in this group had valve surgery as a result of the use of fenfluramines. This risk for valve surgery was increased approximately seven fold. They write, "This is probably a conservative estimate, as another study has shown that there exists a 17- to 34-fold excess of clinically apparent (presumably severe), valvular disease in persons who had used fenfluramines for four months or longer".

Source: Medical News Today

A chemical cousin of red wine extract resveratrol tricks the body to lose weight

The University of Louis Pasteur team found the drug protected mice against weight gain and insulin resistance. The drug SRT1720 - a chemical cousin of red wine extract resveratrol - targets the protein SIRT1, which is thought to combat ageing, Cell Metabolism reports. UK obesity experts said new drug treatments were needed but should be used alongside lifestyle changes. About a quarter of men and a third of women in the UK are overweight, according to government statistics. A change in diet and an increase in physical exercise can shift excess weight, but can be hard for many to maintain. With the removal of the anti-obesity pill rimonabant, also known as Acomplia, from the market amid safety concerns, fewer drug options exist.

Potent drug
The French team from the University Louis Pasteur became interested in the SIRT1 protein after earlier studies showing resveratrol countered some effects of a high-calorie diet via SIRT1.
But tests in mice suggested gallons of wine would be necessary for humans to stand a chance of getting the same benefits. The scientists turned their attention to creating a more potent drug that would specifically target SIRT1.

They found that a low dose of SRT1720 partially protected mice from gaining weight on a high-fat diet after 10 weeks of treatment. The drug worked by shifting the metabolism to a fat-burning mode that normally takes over only when energy levels are low.

At higher doses, the drug completely prevented weight gain. It also improved the rodents' blood sugar tolerance and insulin sensitivity, which are important for warding off diabetes. The mice showed no sign of side effects. However, the scientists say further studies are needed to test the drug's safety and efficacy before it could be used in humans.

Other scientists are investigating SIRT1 activators similar to SRT1720 developed by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. Professor Stephen Bloom, who has been researching obesity at Imperial College London, said: "This sounds interesting but is terribly early. "We do need new treatments for obesity, particularly as there are 1,000 deaths a week in the UK from obesity."

Prof Ian Broom, of the Centre for Obesity Research and Epidemiology at The Robert Gordon University, said: "Research in this area is to be welcomed as an additional route of combating the obesity epidemic and associated comorbid disease." He added that any such drug should be used alongside dietary and lifestyle changes to tackle obesity.

Source: BBC News

The overall profile of taranabant does not support further development for obesity

Merck and Co., Inc. will not seek regulatory approval for taranabant, an investigational medicine, to treat obesity and is discontinuing its Phase III clinical development program for taranabant for obesity.

"Available Phase III data showed that both efficacy and adverse events were dose related, with greater efficacy and more adverse events in the higher doses. Therefore, after careful consideration, we determined that the overall profile of taranabant does not support further development for obesity," said John Amatruda, M.D., senior vice president and research head, diabetes and obesity, Merck Research Laboratories. "We thank the patients and investigators around the world who collaborated with us on the research program for taranabant and look forward to developing new medicines for obesity to address the significant medical need posed by this disease."

Source: FierceBiotec