Potential obesity and cancer drugs added to Isis Pharma development pipeline

USA-based antisense drug discoverer and developer Isis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ISIS) revealed yesterday that it has added two new drugs to its development pipeline, ISIS-FGFR4Rx and ISIS-STAT3Rx, which hold potential in the treatment of obesity and cancer, respectively.

ISIS-FGFR4Rx is designed to treat obesity by increasing metabolism, particularly by increasing lipid and fat burning. It specifically blocks the production of fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) in the liver and fat tissue. In addition, ISIS-FGFR4Rx should not reduce FGFR4 expression in the central nervous system (CNS) or heart, thereby avoiding the central nervous system and cardiovascular side effects associated with many obesity drugs in development. In preclinical studies, inhibition of FGFR4 lowered body weight and enhanced weight loss when administered as a single agent, in combination with a caloric-restricted diet and in combination with an appetite-suppressing drug and a caloric-restricted diet. The reduction in body weight was accompanied by an improvement in insulin sensitivity. ISIS-FGFR4Rx, which was found to be safe and well tolerated in multiple species, is the first drug in Isis' metabolic franchise to treat obesity.

Peripherally acting drugs could have advantage in obesity, says Isis