Obesity Drug Pipeline: Developing Therapies for a Complex Disease

The good news is that even modest weight loss may reduce the risk of obesity’s co-morbidities. Numerous studies indicate that losing 5% to 10% of initial body weight in obese individuals can result in reduction in cardiovascular risk factors of the metabolic syndrome, reduced mortality in patients who had a previous myocardial infarction, and reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.7 Researchers attribute the health benefits of modest weight loss to the preferential loss of intra-abdominal fat. It is this fat that is linked to the development of the components of the metabolic syndrome and the resulting risk of CVD and type 2 diabetes. Subcutaneous fat accounts for most of human fat mass, but is not associated with the development of the metabolic syndrome or its sequelae.