Imagine a Simple Skin Patch That Burns Fat Without Major Side Effects | By @Ben Ryan | @Modern Medicine at PHARMATIVE.com
A medication-infused skin patch meant to cause body fat to melt away has succeeded in prompting considerable weight loss in a short periodof time among mice. Now the Singapore-based scientists behind the study arelooking to partner with the biotechnology sector to move this weight-loss patch into early human trials.
It’s no secret that obesity is a grave and growing problem to the health and wellbeing of people around the world, and in particular in the United States. Just to name two major associated health conditions, having such an excess level of body fat is associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. But when it comes to developing drugs that can reduce body fat, scientists have had great difficulty finding, and administering to the body, compounds that don’t burden people with considerable, even severe, side effects.
For the new skin-patch study, which was published in the journal Small Methods, the investigators worked with two compounds. One, a beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist, is Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved to treat overactive bladders. The second is T3 triiodothyronine, which is a thyroid hormone used to treat those with an underactive gland. The scientists wanted to find a way to deliver these drugs directly to the body fat and to avoid administering them by another route—orally or via injection—that would lead to a blanketing affect and that could lead to unwanted interactions with other parts of the body.
The researchers infused either of the two drugs into a skin patch containing hundreds of tiny micro-needles. The patch can be pressed to the skin for about two minutes, which allows the micro-needles to implant into the skin so the patch can then be removed. Over time, the needles break down and the infused medication seeps into the body gradually.
The drugs work by turning what is known as white fat into so-called brown fat. Babies’ bodies are rich with brown fat, which burns calories and in the process helps keep the infants warm. Then, as individuals get older, white fat, which is a more stubborn presence because it stores calories rather than burns them, replaces the brown fat. So if a drug causes white fat to turn to brown fat, this kick-starts a process by which the fat burns itself down. Boom—a slimmer waistline.
Studying the patch’s effect on mice that had been fed with a high-fat diet to the point of obesity, the investigators found that white fat started making this conversion to the brown form within just five days. After a mere four weeks, the mice’s fat mass dropped by 30 percent. What’s more, compared with untreated mice, these animals wound up with lower blood cholesterol and fatty acids, indicating that the beneficial effects of such a treatment could be more than just cosmetic.
The study authors are looking to further investigate a patch infused with the beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist and Hyaluronic acid, which is a natural human substance and popular skin moisturizer component.
Human trials, which include three major stages and are required before a drug company can apply for approval from the FDA, typically progress over a process of many years. And then there is the time the FDA takes to review a new treatment. So while this skin patch is unlikely to hit the market anytime soon, the new study does raise hopes for an answer to the global obesity epidemic. And while there’s no telling what kind of a mark-up a drug manufacturer would put on such a revolutionary product, at least on the mere production level this patch is quite cheap, with materials costing only about $3.50. #FatPatch#WeightLoss#ModernMedicine
Source:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171228100910.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
A new approach to reducing bulging tummy fats has shown promise in laboratory trials. It combines a new way to deliver drugs, via a micro-needle patch, with drugs that are known to turn energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat.
A medication-infused skin patch meant to cause body fat to melt away has succeeded in prompting considerable weight loss in a short periodof time among mice. Now the Singapore-based scientists behind the study arelooking to partner with the biotechnology sector to move this weight-loss patch into early human trials.
It’s no secret that obesity is a grave and growing problem to the health and wellbeing of people around the world, and in particular in the United States. Just to name two major associated health conditions, having such an excess level of body fat is associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. But when it comes to developing drugs that can reduce body fat, scientists have had great difficulty finding, and administering to the body, compounds that don’t burden people with considerable, even severe, side effects.
For the new skin-patch study, which was published in the journal Small Methods, the investigators worked with two compounds. One, a beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist, is Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved to treat overactive bladders. The second is T3 triiodothyronine, which is a thyroid hormone used to treat those with an underactive gland. The scientists wanted to find a way to deliver these drugs directly to the body fat and to avoid administering them by another route—orally or via injection—that would lead to a blanketing affect and that could lead to unwanted interactions with other parts of the body.
The researchers infused either of the two drugs into a skin patch containing hundreds of tiny micro-needles. The patch can be pressed to the skin for about two minutes, which allows the micro-needles to implant into the skin so the patch can then be removed. Over time, the needles break down and the infused medication seeps into the body gradually.
The drugs work by turning what is known as white fat into so-called brown fat. Babies’ bodies are rich with brown fat, which burns calories and in the process helps keep the infants warm. Then, as individuals get older, white fat, which is a more stubborn presence because it stores calories rather than burns them, replaces the brown fat. So if a drug causes white fat to turn to brown fat, this kick-starts a process by which the fat burns itself down. Boom—a slimmer waistline.
Studying the patch’s effect on mice that had been fed with a high-fat diet to the point of obesity, the investigators found that white fat started making this conversion to the brown form within just five days. After a mere four weeks, the mice’s fat mass dropped by 30 percent. What’s more, compared with untreated mice, these animals wound up with lower blood cholesterol and fatty acids, indicating that the beneficial effects of such a treatment could be more than just cosmetic.
The study authors are looking to further investigate a patch infused with the beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist and Hyaluronic acid, which is a natural human substance and popular skin moisturizer component.
Human trials, which include three major stages and are required before a drug company can apply for approval from the FDA, typically progress over a process of many years. And then there is the time the FDA takes to review a new treatment. So while this skin patch is unlikely to hit the market anytime soon, the new study does raise hopes for an answer to the global obesity epidemic. And while there’s no telling what kind of a mark-up a drug manufacturer would put on such a revolutionary product, at least on the mere production level this patch is quite cheap, with materials costing only about $3.50.
#FatPatch #WeightLoss #ModernMedicine
Source:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171228100910.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
New patch aims to turn energy-storing fats into energy-burning fats: A new approach to reducing bulging tummy fats has shown promise in laboratory trials
sciencedaily.com
A new approach to reducing bulging tummy fats has shown promise in laboratory trials. It combines a new way to deliver drugs, via a micro-needle patch, with drugs that are known to turn energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat.