Could a New Obesity Drug Hit the Market in the Near Future?

Scientists at the University of Southern Denmark believe they are closing in on the development of a new obesity drug that would alter one's appetite-controlling hormones to regulate the intestinal uptake of food.

A few weeks ago, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington conducted a global study analyzing obesity rates in 188 countries between 1980 and 2013. The researchers reviewed more than 1,700 studies and found that no country in the entire world has been able to stabilize obesity rates since 1980. Over 2 billion people are either overweight or obese.

These sobering statistics have health officials and medical experts up in arms due to the overall poor health of the global population as well as the high health care costs obesity incur. Danish and British researchers recently developed a smart tool that could expedite the creation of an obesity pill to help curb the global issue. Their research is focused on FFA4 - a protein found in the cell membranes in intestines, in immune cells, and in fat.

The scientists believe that this protein has the ability to stimulate different physiological activities, including the production of appetite controlling hormones and the hormones that control the intestinal uptake of food. When FFA4 is activated by a long-chain free of fatty acids, it releases hormones that inhibit appetite and increase sugar uptake from the blood. The scientists are looking to find a way to activate this protein through the consumption of a pill.

"In some people this protein is not activated and they have a much higher risk of becoming obese," said Bharat Shimpukade from Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy at University of Southern Denmark, in this news release. "This can be explained by the involvement of the protein in hormone secretion and regulation of inflammation and insulin sensitivity. We want to find a way to activate this protein, because that may help us to develop a drug against obesity or diabetes."

With their knowledge of the crucial FFA4 protein, the University of Southern Denmark scientists developed a computer model that will help them select the correct molecules for synthesis. This will give them the ability to test thousands of molecules much more quickly than expected, which will help them avoid spending years experimenting in laboratories.

"This will speed up the process of finding the right compounds that can be developed to efficient drugs against obesity or diabetes," added Shimpukade.

You can read more about the study, "The Molecular Basis of Ligand Interaction at Free Fatty Acid Receptor 4 (FFA4/GPR120)," on the National Institutes of Health website.