Scientists at Aberdeen University of Aberdeen launch £1.2m project to bypass weight-loss drug side effects

Scientists at a Scots university have launched a £1.2m project to bypass the “unpleasant” side effects that come with using drugs to combat obesity.

The research project investigating the potential of weight-loss drugs without some of the unwelcome side-effects has began at The University of Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute and University College London.

It comes after Semaglutide, which acts in the brain to reduce food intake, has fast become one of the most effective pharmaceutical weapons in battling obesity.

GLP1-based obesity medicines, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, have surged in popularity and become the subject of intense public debate as governments seek to harness their public health potential.

While Semaglutide has show positive results with weight loss, sides affects such as nausea and vomiting are common with around four in ten patients suffering as a result of the drug.

Funded by the Medical Research Counci, professor Lora Heisler of the University of Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute and professor Stefan Trapp at UCL will lead a team investigating where semaglutide acts in the brain.

Over three years they will work to identify where semaglutide acts in the brain to influence specific aspects of food intake such as meal size, healthier food choices, delaying digestion and dampening the “feel-good” food effect, and also where it acts to produce the unpleasant nausea side effects.

Scientists believe this multi-million research project could also open the door to weight-loss drugs in pill form rather than injections which would cut costs and make it more accessible.

The project comes after Professor Heisler’s laboratory recently identified a cluster of brain cells that can be harnessed to reduce food intake and body weight without the nausea, the common side effect of this class of obesity medicines.

Prof. Heisler said there is “huge interest” in how the drugs could be switched on in a more targeted way.

“Drugs that can do this could work better, have effects that last longer and produce specific therapeutic obesity treatment benefits without the nausea side effect,” she said.

“This research could also lead to new drugs that are produced as pills instead of injectables, thereby reducing costs and increasing availability.”

Prof. Heisler added that this study is only possible now because of the latest technological advances.

“We expect our results will provide the blueprint to develop even better obesity medications in the future.”

Professor Trapp added that although semaglutide and similar drugs have been “very effective” in helping people with diabetes and show much promise in helping people to lose weight they still do not know much about how exactly they work in the brain.

“My lab has done extensive research for years into the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) in the brain, which semaglutide targets, so we hope by mapping out the drug’s mechanism more precisely, we will be able to develop more effective drugs with fewer side effects,” he said.