British biopharmaceutical company Lightlake Therapeutics has announced that it will begin Phase 2 trials of its naloxone nasal spray for the treatment of binge eating disorder in overweight and obese patients on August 26th, 2011 in Helsinki, Finland. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist, and the nasal spray targets the endorphins produced when people eat foods high in fat, salt, and sugar.
Lightlake CEO Roger Crystal commented: “We are excited to commence the definitive stage of testing of a product that we believe will be a solution to a disease thought to affect a significant proportion of obese and overweight patients today. We recently completed stability testing in an effort to ensure that our nasal spray adheres to internationally recognised safety standards in delivering an effective treatment. Moreover, we have an excellent control group in place, as we were able to select 138 patients from over 900 applicants wanting to participate in our trials in Helsinki. Dr. David Sinclair, our Chief Scientific Officer, revolutionized the way we treat alcoholism and drug addiction through his research into opioid antagonists, and we are confident that in working with him, we can develop an opioid antagonist derived nasal spray for the treatment of those with Binge Eating Disorder.”
The company says that it plans to complete the Phase 2 trials by early 2012 and subsequently to begin Phase 3 at Imperial College London if the earlier trials are successful. In the future, Lightlake says, it plans to develop similar products for other addictions, including methadone, cocaine and amphetamine.
Read the Lightlake press release.
