Utility of an experimental medicine model to evaluate efficacy, side-effects and mechanism of action of novel treatments for obesity and binge-eating disorder

Obesity and Binge-Eating Disorder (BED) are prevalent conditions that are associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. There is evidence that the use of pharmacotherapy alongside behavioural treatments can improve quality of life and reduce disease risk for patients with these disorders. However, there are few approved drug therapies for obesity, and these are limited by poor efficacy and/or side effects and only one drug has been approved for the treatment of BED. There is considerable potential to use experimental medicine models to identify new drug treatments for obesity and BED, with greater efficacy and an improved side effect profile, at an early stage of development. Here, we present a model developed in our laboratory that incorporates both behavioural and neuroimaging measures which can be used to facilitate drug development for obesity and BED. The results from validation studies conducted to date using our model suggest that it is sensitive to the effects of agents with behavioural, neurophysiological and neuropharmacological mechanisms of action known to be associated with weight loss and reductions in binge eating. Future studies using the model will be valuable to evaluate the potential efficacy and side-effects of new candidate drugs at an early stage in the development pipeline for both obesity and BED.