BOTHELL — The first human test of a nasal spray designed to reduce appetite shows it has promise as a safe treatment for obesity, Nastech Pharmaceutical Co. said Thursday.
The Bothell biotechnology company, which specializes in developing nasally inhaled medications, plans to move ahead with further tests.
"The long-term step is to demonstrate weight loss from this," said Gordon Brandt, Nastech’s executive vice president of clinical research and medical affairs.
The nasal spray Nastech developed uses a naturally occurring hormone called PYY — short for Peptide YY 3-36.
Everybody has this hormone, which is made in the large intestine, Brandt said.
In most people, the hormone is made in response to the intake of food. It then travels through the blood to the brain.
"PYY is released in the blood about 30 minutes after a meal, with the amount of PYY proportionate to the calories eaten," Brandt said. "The overall effect is to tell you you’re no longer hungry."
But obese people seem to make lesser amounts of the hormone than thin people, he added.
Dr. Stephen Bloom, a professor of metabolic medicine in London, has published studies showing that people given an infusion of PYY eat, on average, about 30 percent fewer calories.
Until recently, the only way the hormone could be given to test patients was through injections. Nastech developed the nasal spray version using its patented drug delivery technology. In addition to being a more desirable method of delivering the hormone into the body, the nasal spray allows the treatment to be patentable, even though it is based on a natural hormone.
Bloom carried out the phase 1 clinical study this fall with 15 people, none of them obese, at Hammersmith Hospital in London.
Within less than a half-hour after taking the PYY spray, the level of the hormone in the patients’ blood increased dramatically. In one person, the hormone level was more than 600 percent higher than before the spray.
More importantly, that raised level of the hormone seemed to reduce the patients’ hunger.
Side effects from the spray seemed minimal, according to Nastech. They included brief nausea or lightheadedness in three of the 15 people tested.
In a statement about results from the preliminary study, Bloom gave Nastech credit for being the first to develop a practical way to deliver PYY into the body.
"The results of this study are extremely exciting and give new hope to the overweight that a simple new therapy may be on its way," Bloom said.
Right now, Brandt said, there are only two approved drugs for obesity treatment on the market. Despite having some significant side effects, between them they have sales totaling about $1 billion.
"So, clearly, it’s an area where there aren’t many good therapies yet," Brandt said.
Nastech, which moved from New York to Snohomish County last year, has several nasally administered drugs in the late stages of testing. Those include treatments for sexual dysfunction, osteoporosis and severe pain.
For the third quarter, Nastech lost $6.2 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with a $3.4 million loss for the same period of 2002. The increased loss was the result of higher research and development expenses and lower licensing revenue.
Despite the larger loss, the results still beat analysts expectations by 6 cents a share. Nastech’s stock rose 66 cents Thursday to close at $9.50 a share.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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