'Leptin's last chance': Mouse study says infamous weight loss drug failure could boost GLP-1s

The hormone leptin was discovered 30 years ago to much fanfare. Scientists hoped that leptin, which regulates body fat, could pave the way for obesity treatments. The results in mice were hailed as “miraculous,” and Amgen licensed the hormone for $20 million from Rockefeller University. But its initial promise failed to pan out, as treatments mimicking leptin in the body didn’t spur weight loss. 

New data, published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine, may cast the hormone in a new light. The study showed that a molecule that targets a specific group of neurons with both GLP-1 receptors and leptin receptors produced more weight loss in mice than molecules mimicking either hormone on its own. The researchers also identified a comparable group of neurons in rhesus macaques, which have similar nervous systems to humans. 

Read the rest…