Conditions: Obesity Impaired Glucose Tolerance
Keywords: obesity double blind placebo controlled weight loss appetite energy expenditure
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Enrollment: 41
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
This study will look at the effect of exenatide, a drug which has been approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, on body weight, appetite and energy expenditure among moderately obese women without diabetes.

The study is 35 weeks long and includes 19 outpatient visits. Participants will receive exenatide for 16 weeks and placebo for 16 weeks with a 3 week rest period in between. Neither participants nor investigators will know whether exenatide or placebo is being administered. Participants will be started randomly on either exenatide or placebo.

Our hypothesis is that treatment with exenatide will curb appetite and lead to weight loss and may lead to changes in energy expenditure.

Detailed description:
This study will examine the effect of exenatide on body weight, energy expenditure, satiety, sleep, and metabolic parameters in healthy, moderately obese women (BMI 28-35 kg/m2). We will look at 2 populations of women, one with normal glucose metabolism and one with impaired glucose homeostasis (IGH)--either impaired fasting glucose (IFG, fasting glucose 101-125 mg/dL) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, glucose 140-199 mg/dL 2h after a 75g oral glucose load). This is a randomized, double blind, crossover study with two 16-week treatment periods separated by a 3-week washout period. There are 19 study visits over 35 weeks.

The goals of this study are 1) to examine the effect of exenatide on body weight and dysglycemia in populations in which this medication has not been studied, namely obese women with and without IGH and 2) to investigate possible mechanisms of weight loss through measurements of energy expenditure, hunger, satiety, nausea, and sleep.

The primary outcome of this study is weight loss. We will calculate absolute and relative change in body weight from baseline to week 16 (the first treatment period) and from week 19 to week 35 (the second treatment period). Body weight will be measured at every study visit which will also allow us to assess the absolute and relative change from baseline throughout the entire study.

Arms:
arm 1: Started on Exenatide, 3 week washout, start placebo arm 2: Started on placebo, 3 week washout, start exenatide

Interventions: intervention 1: exenatide intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 5 microgram twice a day for two week and then 10 mcg for remaining 15 weeks intervention 2: Twice daily injection of placebo

Protocol document: