by Playfuls Staff |
27th December 2006
A Californian company named Orexigen has developed a new obesity pill, that has shown remarkable results during tests.
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The company’s researchers presented their study at a conference run by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, the world's leading scientific obesity research body. According to them, Excalia can reduce body weight by 12 per cent within a year.
The pill maintains the body’s metabolism active, by affecting the hypothalamus the brain's weight and appetite thermostat. The researchers stress that the pill contains two widely used drugs, which greatly reduces the chance of side-effects appearing.
Women may lose as much as 21 lbs during 12 months – or the equivalent of two dress sizes.
Excalia’s developers also state that their drug is more effective than any of the existing drugs on the market. These only reduce weight by 5-10 per cent during a year long treatment. The scientists are also considering possible positive side-effects of Excalia, such as reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Excalia needs official approval before being made available on the NHS. UK markets will probably have to wait for four years before the drug’s launch.
It certainly has an aura of magic about it, as Excalia’s producers informed that men and women who took the drug for 48 weeks lost as much as 12 per cent of their body weight. Excalia was given to 27 obese people for 24 weeks. Almost three quarters lost five per cent of their weight and half lost ten per cent. By 48 weeks most had lost 12 per cent of their weight.
Dr. Ken Fujioka, one of the doctors running the trials, said, “The brain is good at figuring out that the body is losing weight. If a drug affects one pathway that could be used to bring the weight back, it will switch to another pathway,” as quoted in The Daily Mail.
“With a combination of drugs we have a better chance of hitting two pathways and getting better and more sustained weight loss,” said Dr. Fujioka.
