Obecure's obesity drug shows good results for women

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli biopharmaceutical company Obecure said its obesity drug Histalean produced positive results for women under 50 in a recent clinical trial.

"The results suggest a strong gender and age effect and support the potential of the drug as a breakthrough anti-obesity agent in women 50 years old or less," said Yaffa Beck, Obecure's chief executive, in a statement.

Obecure is majority-owned by Bio Light Israeli Life Sciences Investments Ltd.

According to the results of the 12-week placebo-controlled Phase II study that included 281 males and females aged 18-65, females aged 50 years or less demonstrated a substantial difference in weight loss.

At the end of week 12 the 25 women on the 48 milligram dose, the highest of three doses of Histalean administered, had lost an average of 2.61 kg, or 2.91 percent of their weight, versus 23 women on placebo, who lost only 0.4 kg, or 0.43 percent of their weight.

Nir Barak, Obecure's chief scientific officer, noted that the positive findings replicated study results obtained from an earlier pilot carried out in a group of young women in Israel.

"This validates the neural histaminergic system as a target for development of a new drug class for weight management and indicates that by targeting this system we may help patients reduce their weight," Barak said.

According to the Center for Disease Control, about 32 percent of adult American women under 54, about 25 million women, suffer from obesity.

Histalean is comprised of betahistine, a treatment for vertigo that has been on the market for some 40 years.