Researchers of the UIC Barcelona Neurolipid Group They have created the first intranasal solution for obesity, an innovative treatment that acts directly in the hypothalamus and that allows regulating appetite and increasing energy expenditure.
The director of the department of Biomedical and Co-Responsible Sciences of the group of neurolipids, Rosalía Rodríguezwhich leads the project, explained that when talking about obesity «it is always thought only of weight gain. However, it has clarified that it is a neuronal disease and that deregulation that occurs has a metabolic impact on peripheral tissues in the body ».
Therefore, after years of research in neurometabolism and obesity regulation, the specialists of UIC Barcelona They focused their efforts on finding a treatment that “attacked the root disease” and created a protein “with some physical-chemical conditions For its intranasal administration that, unlike oral, is direct to the brain ».
Nanobesity It is a Nanoplaforma Produced in the laboratory consisting of “a therapeutic part that acts in hypothalamus neurons, with very powerful effects on appetite reduction and in the increase in energy expenditure,” Rodriguez explained. Another of the great advantages of this treatment is that the benefits «They remain in time ».
The researchers highlight that the nanomolecule is “one hundred percent protein, very natural” and, so far, “it has not been detected Neither rejection nor toxicity » in studies carried out in animal models.
The project, which is carried out jointly with the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB) of the UAB with the Toni Villaverde and Esther Vázquez as researchers, began in 2022 thanks to the aid Llavor of the Generalitat’s knowledge industry program and subsequently to the modalities of Produce and innovative.
Thus, after a first phase In vitro And a second in animals, lThe researchers are in process Shipping of the patent and will begin the regulatory study.
Type 2 diabetes
Although at first this treatment is aimed at patients with obesity, specialists say that in the future it could also be applied to people with type 2 diabetes, A disease that can be linked to excess weight. “We will have to see what types of obesity this solution can be applied,” says Rodríguez.
According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), one in eight people in the world is Obesa. 43% of adults 18 years or older are overweight And 16% are obese. It is estimated that 37 million children under five are overweight. Since 1990, obesity has doubled among adults around the world and quadrupled in adolescents.
