A drug currently approved to treat mouth ulcers has shown promise in animal studies for being a contender in pharmaceutical weight loss. Amlexanox was found by University of Michigan researchers to produce weight loss in obese mice without any change in diet or exercise habits.
For the study, mice fed a high calorie diet until they became obese were injected with amlexanox. The animals lost weight, despite consuming the same amount of calories. The researchers also noted a loss in overall body fat, a decrease in fatty liver, and a reversal of obesity-induced type 2 diabetes. Once taken off the amlexanox injections, however, the mice experienced weight gain.
Amlexanox may work by changing the action of genes that control metabolism versus working as an appetite suppressant.
When the drug was injected in mice, the drug worked by increasing metabolism, not by suppressing appetite.
"One of the reasons that diets are so ineffective in producing weight loss for some people is that their bodies adjust to the reduced calories by also reducing their metabolism, so that they are 'defending' their body weight," says Dr. Alan Saltiel, the lead researcher at the University of Michigan.
"Amlexanox seems to tweak the metabolic response to excessive calorie storage in mice."
The findings were published Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine. Clinical trials are expected to begin later this year to test the drug's effectiveness in humans.