Could a new drug that causes fat cells to self-destruct be the next big GLP-1?
CBL-514 targets fat cells and a new study shows it was effective in slimming participants’ waistlines.
Early data suggests it is also effective in preventing it.
Although GLP-1 primarily decreases fat, it also loses up to 25% of vital lean mass. And after stopping GLP-1, people often regain two-thirds of the weight they lost within a year.
“We hope that patients will be satisfied with the cosmetic effects, such as the flatter stomach that may accompany the loss of subcutaneous fat,” said one author.
“But it is the reduction in body weight, the loss of visceral fat and the improvement in blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. that should be associated with it that will be important for health.”
Some experts say CBL-514 could prove to be “a more fundamental treatment for obesity” than GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic.
What is CBL-514?
Like many GLP-1s, CBL-514 is an injectable drug. But rather than slowing digestion and reducing appetite like GLP-1, the new drug works more locally.
It blocks an essential means of survival for fat cells, causing them to die at the injection site: the stomach.
New data from phase 2 clinical trials show that the drug reduces subcutaneous fat (fat just under the skin) and visceral fat (fat deep inside the body that wraps around organs). Visceral fat, in particular, is the cause of diseases such as diabetes and cardiometabolic problems including heart attacks and strokes.
Common surgical procedures targeting subcutaneous fat, such as liposuction and abdominoplasty (aka “tummy tuck”), are much more invasive, CBL-514 researchers say. These surgical procedures also pose risks far worse than an uneven cosmetic result, including infections, blood vessel blockages, embolisms, and even perforation of an internal organ.
CBL-514 acts on both types of fat without invasive surgery.
“This is a very innovative approach to obesity drug therapy that has produced remarkable results in early human trials,” said Dr. W. Timothy Garvey, an advisor to Caliway, the drugmaker behind CBL-514, and a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
What the latest data shows
In the latest trials, participants received an injection of CBL-514 every three weeks. The number of injections they received depended on the thickness of their abdominal fat, which decreased as the effects of the drug took hold.
After just four weeks, average visceral abdominal fat had already decreased by 12%. In total, eight weeks after treatment, the fat was still 10.45% lower than at the start.
Researchers believe that once these fat cells are destroyed, their ability to grow back is limited, making it difficult to regain weight.
Currently, long-lasting effects of CBL-514 after stopping treatment have only been demonstrated in rats, and researchers are studying whether this effect can be replicated in humans.
Researchers are also studying whether CBL-514 could work with a GLP-1 drug to help a patient stop taking it while reducing the risk of weight regain.
Aside from “generally mild to moderate and transient” reactions at the injection site, such as pain, swelling and redness, CBL-514 was generally well tolerated, the researchers said. No serious adverse events were reported.
The drug is now entering Phase 3 drug trials, the final step before FDA approval.
Gn Health
