Genset , a French biotechnology company, says it plans to start clinical trials on a new compound that controls weight gain in mice without reducing their food intake. It will take five years of clinical trials to prove that the compound works in humans, he says. Even then, it will work for just one-third of obese patients. Trials are set to begin by the end of the year. What works in mice does not necessarily work in people.
Preliminary studies are encouraging.
The compound works, Lodish says, by spurring muscles to uptake more fatty acids than they usually would. Fat in food is broken down into fatty acids, which are small enough to be transported in the bloodstream, taken up by muscles and turned into energy. Muscles given gArcp30 burn more fatty acids than they normally would. Levels of fatty acids in the blood usually accompany a high-fat meal. This effect is blunted, so fewer of the acids are repackaged as flab by fat cells.