YOU’VE definitely heard of fat-blasting jabs Ozempic and Wegovy.
But the drugs, hailed for their appetite suppressing properties, don’t come without their side effects.
Researchers have developed a new weight loss treatment that doesn’t cause sickness like Wegovy and Ozempic
Trials for Wegovy – set to become available on prescription in Boots pharmacies – showed that around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
Many also regained two-thirds of the pounds they shed after dropping the weekly injections.
But American researchers have developed a new weight-loss treatment which could solve both these problems.
And its effects mirror the long-term benefits of gastric bypass surgery without the need to go under the knife, the researchers wrote.
Led by Dr Robert Doyle from Syracuse University and Dr Christian Roth of Seattle Children’s Research Institute, the research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
They developed a compound dubbed GEP44 which, like other weight loss jabs, interacts with gut hormone receptors to to signal fullness, curb appetite and normalise blood sugar.
The key difference is that it activates multiple receptors rather than just one – this could be the key to cancelling out sickness or vomiting, according to Dr Doyle.
GEP44 has a much longer half-life, meaning it could be injected only once or twice a week instead of multiple times a day.
Researchers tested their ‘next-generation compound’ on rats.
It caused them to eat up to 80 per cent less than they normally would and shed 12 per cent of their body weight over 16 days.
The rats kept their new, slimmer physique even after treatment ended – this often isn’t the case with currently approved drugs, according to Dr Doyle.
Aside from suppressing the animals’ appetite, the treatment boosted calorie burn.
It also reduced blood sugar by pulling glucose into muscle tissue, where it can be used as fuel, and by converting certain cells in the pancreas into insulin-producing cells, helping replace those damaged by diabetes.
The team tested GEP44 on shrews too, as – unlike rats – they have the ability to vomit. The animals showed no signs of nausea.
“For a long time, we didn’t think you could separate weight reduction from nausea and vomiting, because they’re linked to the exact same part of the brain,” Dr Doyle said.
Since researchers managed to separate the two, they think their discovery might have implications for chemotherapy, which also causes similar and unpleasant side effects.
“What if we could maintain the benefit of chemotherapy drugs but tell the part of the brain that causes vomiting and nausea to knock it off?” Dr Doyle asked.
“Then we could dose patients at a higher level, so they would have a better prognosis, and they would also have a better quality of life while undergoing chemotherapy.”
It could take a while for the drug to be approved for human use, let alone for it to hit the market – the researchers have filed for patents on their compounds, and they plan to test them in primates.