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Two for one: candidate obesity drug boosts energy use and curbs calorie intake

The discovery of a pathway that controls appetite and calorie burning has led to the development of a drug that modulates both by targeting one receptor, offering a promising strategy for weight loss and improved metabolic health.
  1. Carlos G. Ardanaz

    1. Carlos G. Ardanaz is in Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, 50931 Cologne, Germany.

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  2. Sophie M. Steculorum

    1. Sophie M. Steculorum is in Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, 50931 Cologne, Germany.

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Body weight is determined by the balance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Although energy intake is solely the result of the food that we eat, energy expenditure is a combination of various factors, including physical activity and the basal metabolic rate necessary to maintain vital physiological functions. Most drugs currently used to treat obesity aim to decrease appetite, but increasing basal energy expenditure at the same time to create a calorie deficit has remained a long-lasting quest. In the past few years, obesity-treatment approaches have successfully intervened on both sides of the energy-balance equation by concomitantly targeting different receptors1, but attempts to target a single receptor with one drug have so far failed2. Writing in Nature, Sass et al.3 unveil a single receptor as a pioneering therapeutic target that not only suppresses appetite but also enhances energy expenditure in animal models.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03548-2

References

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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