Metabolic Pharmaceuticals, Ltd, a biotech company, reported encouraging results for AOD9604A -- a drug that stimulates the metabolism of body fat -- in a small early-stage clinical trial in Australia.

Unveiling the results of a 300-patient phase 2b study, Metabolic said its drug had produced an average weight loss of slightly over 6 pounds during a 12-week period, with some subjects losing as much as 17 to 46 pounds.

In comparison, the patients taking a placebo lost an average 1.7 pounds.

Metabolic's drug is a first in that it is a small orally active peptide modelled on one section of the human growth hormone molecule. Levels of human growth hormone tend to become suppressed in obese people.

"Daily dosing with AOD9604 restores suppressed fat metabolism in the obese by mimicking the fat metabolic effects of growth hormone," a Metabolic spokesperson said.

The 300 participants in the clinical trial were men and women aged 30 to 65 years with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or higher. The average of participants was 44 and the average weight was 268 pounds.

Interestingly, while trial participants were given doses of AOD9604 ranging from 1mg per day to 30mg, those receiving the lowest dose lost the most weight.

"AOD9604 also demonstrated compared to placebo a small but consistent improvement in cholesterol profiles, and a reduction in the number of patients with impaired glucose tolerance," a company spokesperson said. "At all doses the drug demonstrated excellent tolerability, with no evidence for the side effects commonly experienced with existing drugs."

"This is an exciting new approach to a problem which has defied easy solutions," said Dr. Louis J. Aronne, President of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity and a member of Metabolic's Clinical Advisory Panel.

"Unlike currently available treatments which rely on reducing calorie intake, this one appears to work primarily on metabolic pathways and merits further investigation," Aronne added.

Dr. Michael Jensen, an expert on lipid metabolism and a member of Metabolic's U.S. Clinical Advisory Panel, said "the scientific idea behind AOD9604 is an elegant one and completely different from the existing approaches to obesity."

Metabolic CEO Dr. Chris Belyea said the company hopes now "to secure a partnership with a major pharmaceutical company to assist in financing late stage longer term human clinical trials."