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Coming soon: anti-fat pill

A fat busting pill which mimics the effect exercise has on the body is being developed by Australian scientists.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/02/1080544677859.html

Scientists at St Vincent's Institute in Melbourne said the fat pill could be taken by obese people who were unable to exercise effectively.

St Vincent's Institute director Tom Kay said about a decade ago scientist Bruce Kemp and his team discovered a protein inside cells which worked as a "fuel gauge".

"The protein regulates how food is burnt up in the body to do useful work," he said.

"Exercise is one of the things that helps you effectively use food and exercise activates the protein that has been discovered here.

"What we're trying to do at the institute is discover drugs which will activate this process in exactly the same way exercise does so that you could take a pill which gave you the beneficial effects of exercise."

Professor Kay said the drug would be particularly useful for overweight people who had injuries or arthritis.

"The other thing is that behavioural approaches to obesity have limited success in terms of sustaining weight loss and it may be that this sort of drug is more broadly applicable as well," he said.

He said about 20 scientists were working on the development of the fat pill at the newly refurbished St Vincent's Institute.

As well as the fat pill, the institute's scientists are researching ways to combat osteoporosis, HIV, cancer and diabetes.

Professor Kay said the institute's new $10.5 million research building, which was unveiled today, would assist with the development of the fat pill.

"Advances in medical research depend on state-of-the-art facilities and depend on fantastic scientists and you need both of those things to go hand in hand," he said.

Posted by thinkum at April 2, 2004 10:32 AM