Amylin reports weight-loss success with Symlin

San Diego-based Amylin has reported that a three-times-a-day injection of its diabetes drug Symlin -- a synthetic form of the human hormone amylin -- helped obese patients lose weight. The Phase II trial involving more than 200 patients led to a loss of 3.6 percent of the body weight of patients taking the hormone after 16 weeks of injections. Symlin was approved three months ago for type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Amylin tested the drug in people with a body mass index of 30 to 45 and found that the lightest group -- a BMI of 30 to 35 -- responded best in the study, losing 5 percent of their body weight. A new Phase II is under way to study another dosage.

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