02 January 2018
Researchers from Nanyang Technological University have devised a skin patch that allows anti-obesity drugs to be administered.
Each skin patch is of area 1 cm square and contains hundreds of micro-needles that allow anti-obesity medication to be delivered directly to the fat cells under the skin.
This drug delivery system has been shown to reduce weight gain in mice on a high fat diet by more than 30 per cent over a period of four weeks. The skin patch will be tested on humans in a year or two.
Professor Chen Peng, one of the team’s two principal investigators, noted that not many adult anti-obesity drugs are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, as high dosages are often required. With the patch, drug are administered directly onto the fat, allowing for the dosages to be reduced significantly.
The drugs used by the NTU team are hormone-based and will instigate cells to change their genetic make-up. They cause fatty cells to produce more metabolic components such as mitochondria to increase energy production and fat metabolism.