Lightlake Therapeutics has announced what it called “very encouraging preliminary results” from a Phase 2 clinical trial of its naloxone nasal spray for the treatment of binge eating disorder. According to the company, the randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial demonstrated a 56% greater reduction in the amount of time that patients who received the spray spent binge eating compared to patients who received a placebo nasal spray, with the effect increasing over time. The naloxone group also showed a significant reduction in body mass index over the second half of the trial.
Lightlake Chief Scientific Officer David Sinclair said, “We are pleased that the data showed that there is an ‘extinction curve’ – where the benefits of the drug therapy improved over time. We know from our earlier research that permitting people to engage in their problematic behavior – here binge eating – while at the same time receiving drug therapy, results in the person losing interest in that behavior, essentially ‘extinguishing’ binge eating.”
CEO Roger Crystal commented, “We are very pleased with the preliminary results of this study, and we will continue to conduct further evaluation on the additional data captured in the study. Lightlake is committed to research that can help us advance our treatment of BED and other addictive behaviors – disorders that affect millions of individuals worldwide. The data from this study provides further evidence that naloxone may also be a promising treatment for Bulimia Nervosa, which is another related disease that is covered in our patent portfolio. We will work closely with regulatory authorities, to launch further studies to confirm naloxone as a suitable treatment for Binge Eating Disorder.”
Read the Lightlake press release.
