Diabetes drug Symlin can help to shed weight

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Friday that a high dose of its &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/02/31606.html ' target=_blank>diabetes drug Symlin, given three times a day by injection, helped obese patients shed weight in a mid-stage clinical trial.

A Phase II trial of 204 obese subjects found that 31 percent of them lost 5 percent of their weight after 16 weeks of treatment, compared with 2 percent of patients on a placebo, the company said.

The results, presented at a meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Diego, also showed that the weight loss was progressive and did not show signs of a plateau, said Dan Bradbury, chief operating officer, at San Diego-based Amylin.

Trial participants were told to continue their usual diet and exercise habits.

Bradbury said the results were most pronounced in people with a body mass index of 30 to 35 -- the lower end of the study's range of 30 to 45. Symlin was approved in March by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use with insulin in patients with both Type 1, or juvenile, and Type 2 diabetes, informs Reuters.

‘The drug is a synthetic analog of human amylin, a &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/361/15296_aging.html ' target=_blank>hormone known to play a role in the regulation of appetite and food intake by helping people to feel full, said Dan Bradbury, Amylin's chief operating officer.

The blinded study involved 204 obese people. Forty-four of those people have type 2 diabetes and are not being treated with insulin.

Pramlintide is the same drug in Amylin's therapy known as Symlin. Earlier this year the Food and Drug Administration gave Amylin approval to sell Symlin as a therapy for people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Symlin helps people taking insulin better control their blood sugar.