Obesity drugs pose weighty problems for researchers

Few disease targets are as attractive to drug developers as obesity. And few are as complex. Researchers and drug companies are routinely stumped in trying to develop a pill that can trump the body's 'guerrilla tactics' when it comes to weight loss, notes an article in the Los Angeles Times. The neurological, metabolic and digestive processes are all intertwined, and when a drug successfully addresses one pathway, another steps in to keep the weight on.  

"I don't think money is going to be enough" to crack the problem of obesity by pharmacological means, Mike Cawthorne, director of metabolic research at the University of Buckingham's Clore Laboratory, tells the LA Times. "Fundamental research, insight, brilliant chemists and probably most of all, a sleight of luck will be necessary. And we will need to use a combination of drugs, in part to block the redundancy in the system."

Meanwhile, there are a number of new obesity drugs in the pipeline, and researchers are working on many more.

- read the report in the Los Angeles Times

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