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New study confirms treatment with Bimagrumab, an antibody that blocks type II activin receptors and stimulates skeletal muscle growth, is safe and effective for treating excess body fat and metabolic disorders in adult patients suffering from obesity and type 2 diabetes.
“These exciting results suggest that there may be a new mechanism for achieving weight loss with profound body fat loss and increased lean mass, along with other metabolic benefits,” said Steve Heymsfield, MD. , FTOS, former president of The Obesity Society and corresponding author of the study. Heymsfield is a professor and director of the Metabolism and Body Composition Laboratory at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
A total of 75 patients with type 2 diabetes, body mass index between 28 and 40 and glycated hemoglobin A1c between 6.5% and 10% were selected for the randomized phase 2 clinical trial. patients received an injection of bimagrumab or placebo (a dextrose solution) every 4 weeks for 48 weeks. Both groups received advice on diet and exercise. The research took place at nine sites in the US and UK from February 2017 to May 2019.
At the end of the 48-week study, the researchers found an almost 21% decrease in body fat in the Bimagrumab group compared to 0.5% in the placebo group. The results also revealed that the Bimagrumab group gained 3.6% lean body mass compared to a loss of 0.8% in the placebo group. The combined loss of total body fat and the gain in lean mass led to a 6.5% net reduction in body weight in patients receiving Bimagrumab compared to 0.8% weight loss in their counterparts receiving placebo.
The sample size of 75 participants was a limitation of the study. There was also a gender imbalance in the groups with more women randomized to Bimagrumab and more men to placebo.
The partial results of this study were presented at a research forum titled “Emerging Pharmacological Anti-Obesity Therapies” at ObesityWeek® 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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