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news.Thiakis, a spin-off company of Imperial College, is initiating its first clinical trial in human volunteers to develop a safe and effective treatment for obesity, according to FT.
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The drug which was initially discovered at Imperial College was based on a gut hormone called oxyntomodulin that helped obese people lose weight by lowering their appetite and food consumption.
As the natural hormone was found unsuitable for commercial development, the Imperial College established Thiakis, a spin-off company, and developed a synthetic molecule called TKS1225 that is far more potent and long-acting. Thiakis has also raised GBP10 million to advance the product into the clinical trials.
John Burt, CEO and co-founder of Thiakis said that since TKS1225, the synthetic analogue, functioned normally in the gut it may not cause psychiatric side-effects that had undermined other obesity drugs.