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PYN22 for Obesity and NAFLD

Obesity and its associated disorders are a growing epidemic across the world, with 300 000 obesity related deaths annually in the US alone, and yet it is considered one of the ten most preventable health risks by the World Health Organisation (WHO).  There are approximately 1.2 billion overweight people in the world, of which at least 300 million are considered obese.  Obesity is associated with a number of disorders including hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and liver disease.

There is a large economic burden associated with obesity.  It is estimated that the total annual medical expenditure cost in the US related to obesity is 5-7 percent of the total health care costs that equates to approximately 75 billion dollars.  Physician office visits due to obesity increased 88 percent between 1988 to 1994, with moderately obese and severely obese individuals having an estimated 14 percent and 25 percent more visits to their physicians respectively than normal weight individuals.  The USA is not however alone in the economic burden due to obesity.  In Europe it is estimated that 1-5 percent of the total healthcare costs are due to obesity and its associated disorders (Wilborn et al., 2005).

Treatment at present focuses on reducing body weight by diet and exercise, and for more severe cases, pharmacological treatment or even bariatric surgery.  There are currently only a few approved drugs for the long-term management of obesity, however pharmacological measures are usually only considered for patients with a BMI > 30, and if the patient has failed to lose weight on a programme of diet, exercise, and behaviour modification. 

Current drug therapies for the treatment of obesity are coming under increased scrutiny due to harmful side-effects.  Sibutramine was recently withdrawn from the EU market due to increased cardiovascular risks, as has rimonabant due to increased risk of significant psychiatric disorders.  Other products which remain on the market are also associated with unpleasant side-effects, such as fecal incontinence with orlistat.  New safe and effective treatments for obesity are therefore required.

Phynova is developing a highly purified Chinese plant extract that has been shown to reduce body weight, liver fat (e.g. triglycerides), blood fat levels (e.g. cholesterol and triglycerides) with the aim to reduce the levels of liver and blood fats as well as over all body weight. 

The mechanisms of action of PYN22 have not yet been fully elucidated, but studies have shown that PYN22 effectively lowers the expression of several key genes associated with obesity and fatty liver diseases, such as those affecting lipogenesis, adipogenesis, fatty acid oxidation, insulin sensitivity, adiponectin expression, and acetyl-coA carboxylase expression.  In vivo studies have shown that PYN22 effectively reduces body weight and body fat composition in a high-fat diet model as well as in a genetically obese model (ob/ob) on a high fat diet.  The data showed that PYN22 significantly lowered fasting insulin and glucose levels and there was a good trend in lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels. 

PYN22 is an excellent candidate for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders and in combination with PYN17, this product could benefit patients with inflamed livers associated with fatty diets or metabolic disease (e.g. diabetes).

 

[Wilborn C, Beckham J, Campbell B, Harvey T, Galbreath M, La Bounty P, Nassar E, Wismann J, and Kreider R. Obesity: prevalence, theories, medical consequences, management, and research directions.  Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2005; 2 (2): 4-31.