Gym haters, rejoice \u2014 the workout of the future may not require breaking a sweat.<\/p>\n
Biotech company Enveda announced this week that its experimental drug, designed to curb appetite and mimic some of the body\u2019s effects of physical activity, delivered encouraging results in its first clinical trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cENV-308 is our attempt to put the chemistry of exercise into a daily tablet,\u201d Viswa Colluru, the startup\u2019s founder and CEO, said in a statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n Enveda\u2019s ENV-308 is designed to replicate the effects of a hormone released after exercise that helps regulate appetite. Jordi P DE\/peopleimages.com \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n The early results are drawing attention because the new drug could offer a GLP-1-like approach to weight loss \u2014 without some of the class\u2019s biggest drawbacks, including gastrointestinal side effects and muscle loss.<\/p>\n The pill mimics a molecule called lactate phenylalanine, or Lac-Phe, which scientists at Stanford discovered in 2022.<\/p>\n The body produces it naturally when lactate \u2014 a chemical released by muscles during vigorous exercise \u2014 combines with the amino acid phenylalanine. <\/p>\n Once it enters the bloodstream, Lac-Phe acts sends a signal to the brain to dial down the drive to eat. Studies in animals have also found that it can suppress appetite and reduce obesity. <\/p>\n There\u2019s just one catch: Lac-Phe breaks down quickly, so it doesn\u2019t stay in the bloodstream long enough to keep the urge to eat at bay throughout the day and promote lasting weight loss.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where ENV-308 comes in. Enveda\u2019s pill aims to harness Lac-Phe\u2019s benefits in a daily oral tablet, potentially making them last longer. <\/p>\n In a Phase 1 clinical trial, Enveda gave ENV-308 at varying strengths to 88 healthy adults. Notably, the experiment didn\u2019t set out to determine whether the drug actually helped with weight loss. Instead, researchers were primarily looking at whether it was safe.<\/p>\n They found that the participants tolerated the drug across the full range of doses tested, with the company reporting it had an \u201cexceptional gastrointestinal safety profile.\u201d<\/p>\n That could be a big deal in the weight-loss-drug world.<\/p>\n The once-daily pill was safe and well tolerated by participants in an early phase clinical trial. globalmoments \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal problems are among the most common reasons people stop taking GLP-1s<\/a>, the blockbuster class of medications<\/a> that includes medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy.<\/p>\n In animal studies, ENV-308 also preserved lean muscle mass during weight loss. That\u2019s significant because research suggests that some of the pounds people lose while taking GLP-1s can come from muscle<\/a>, not just fat.<\/p>\n Animals also maintained their slimmer figures after scientists stopped giving them ENV-308. That could be particularly important, since many people who stop taking GLP-1 drugs regain some of the weight they lost<\/a> \u2014 and sometimes even more.<\/p>\n \u201cPatients and physicians need therapies that sustain metabolic benefit over time,\u201d said Dr. Naveed Sattar, a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow and chair of the UK\u2019s Obesity Healthcare Goals Program.<\/p>\n \u201cENV-308 represents a novel approach targeting this challenge, and it is encouraging to see early clinical data from a new mechanism of action supporting its progression into later-stage clinical trials.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, don\u2019t expect ENV-308 to send Ozempic packing just yet.<\/p>\n Enveda says the pill could potentially be used alongside existing therapies like GLP-1s, including possibly allowing them to be taken less frequently. The company is also exploring whether the approach could help avoid some of the side effects associated with the treatments<\/a>. <\/p>\n Enveda is exploring whether ENV-308 may be able to help improve the user experience of GLP-1s. Kateryna \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n The Phase I trial also looked at leptin, a hormone that helps regulate hunger. People with obesity often have high leptin levels but can become resistant to its signals.<\/p>\n Early results suggest that ENV-308 lowers leptin levels in animals and humans, with the biggest drops seen in participants who started with the highest levels.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is now compelling data in preclinical models indicating that Lac-Phe is involved in regulating several aspects of metabolic, brain, and inflammatory health,\u201d said Dr. Jonathan Long, a leading researcher in exercise metabolism and advisor to Enveda.<\/p>\n \u201cThe possibility that ENV-308 may mimic these effects in a daily oral tablet in humans is an extremely exciting potential scientific breakthrough.\u201d<\/p>\n In the next round of trials, researchers will look at whether ENV-308 can actually affect body weight and composition, as well as leptin biology and other markers of metabolic health. They\u2019ll also study how the drug interacts with GLP-1 medications.<\/p>\n But Enveda isn\u2019t stopping at weight loss.<\/p>\n The company also plans to study whether ENV-308 could help treat other conditions where exercise may be beneficial, including migraines<\/a>, inflammatory bowel disease and polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome<\/a>, formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome.<\/p>\n But don\u2019t expect to get a prescription anytime soon. ENV-308 is still in the early stages of development, and it will take years to determine whether it works and is safe for long-term use.<\/p>\n Even if those trials succeed, the pill would still need approval from the Food and Drug Administration before it could become available to the public.<\/p>\n If it does reach the market, don\u2019t cancel your gym membership just yet. While ENV-308 aims to mimic some of the effects of exercise, working out does a lot more than burn calories.<\/p>\n Physical activity can improve mental health<\/a>, support brain function<\/a>, promote better sleep<\/a>, boost energy, reduce inflammation, strengthen the immune system and support a healthy gut \u2014 benefits you\u2019ll still need to break a sweat to get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gym haters, rejoice \u2014 the workout of the future may not require breaking a sweat. Biotech company Enveda…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[278],"tags":[18,539,20843,525,1950,135,48616,14066,19,17,133,14176,564],"class_list":["post-649864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-eire","tag-exercise","tag-experimental-drugs","tag-fitness","tag-glp-1","tag-health","tag-hormones","tag-hunger","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-study-says","tag-weight-loss"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117136168756328564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}