Where most obesity drugs shrink fat cells, an experimental injection destroys them, and an early clinical trial has produced promising results. The drug, CBL-514, reduced both fat under the skin and visceral fat stored deep around the organs, Bangla Tribune's international desk reports.
In two phase 2 trials, CBL-0204 and CBL-0205, with 107 and 173 volunteers respectively, most participants saw their under-skin fat fall. In a later analysis of a group of 41, visceral fat fell by an average 12.01 per cent in those who received the injection for 12 weeks, while in those given a placebo it had risen by an average 5.68 per cent four weeks after the last injection.
Endocrinologist Timothy Garvey of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who led the trial, said that alongside weight and visceral fat loss, improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol and similar measures would be important for health. In mice, adding CBL-514 to the GLP-1 drug tirzepatide produced more weight loss, and the weight did not easily return after treatment stopped.
There are caveats. The results have not been peer-reviewed; they were presented at research conferences and in company announcements, not in a journal. Cambridge University epidemiologist Marie Spreckley, who was not involved, said larger and longer trials are needed to know whether the effect lasts and improves health. Justin Rochford of the University of Aberdeen warned that it must not cause fat to build up in other organs or disrupt control of blood sugar and fats.
CBL-514 was originally developed to remove lipomas, fatty lumps under the skin. The researchers now plan larger and longer trials.
Photo: Armin Kübelbeck / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0); an injection, for illustration
Source: Bangla Tribune
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