Gastric bypass surgery mimetic approaches.

Gastric bypass surgery is effectively a polypharmacological approach for treatment of obesity, type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The gastric bypass mimetic approaches reviewed are fixed-dose combinatorial pharmacological approaches. There are two key concepts incorporated into these gastric bypass surgery mimetic approaches. The first key concept is that the combination of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is essential for success of any gastric bypass surgery mimetic approach. This combination affords the potential for durable weight loss, glycemic control and reduction in liver lipids. The second key concept is that a fixed-dose combination approach is preferred over post-approval combination of the individual components because the individual components alone often lack sufficient efficacy for development.

Cevoglitazar, a novel peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha/gamma dual agonist, potently reduces food intake and body weight in obese mice and cynomolgus monkeys.

Cevoglitazar is a dual agonist for the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-alpha and -gamma subtypes. Dual activation of PPARalpha and -gamma is a therapeutic approach in development for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic dyslipidemia. In this report, we show that, in addition to improving insulin sensitivity and lipid metabolism like other dual PPAR agonists, cevoglitazar also elicits beneficial effects on energy homeostasis in two animal models of obesity. In leptin-deficient ob/ob mice, administration of cevoglitazar at 0.5, 1, or 2 mg/kg for 18 d led to acute and sustained, dose-dependent reduction of food intake and body weight. Furthermore, plasma levels of glucose and insulin were normalized after 7 d of cevoglitazar treatment at 0.5 mg/kg. Plasma levels of free fatty acids and triglycerides were dose-dependently reduced. In obese and insulin-resistant cynomolgus monkeys, treatment with cevoglitazar at 50 and 500 mug/kg for 4 wk lowered food intake and body weight in a dose-dependent manner. In these animals, cevoglitazar also reduced fasting plasma insulin and, at the highest dose, reduced hemoglobin A1c levels by 0.4%. These preclinical results demonstrate that cevoglitazar holds promise for the treatment of diabetes and obesity-related disorders because of its unique beneficial effect on energy balance in addition to improving glycemic and metabolic control.