A specialist team of scientists and clinicians is set to begin clinical trials following a study which showed that co-treatment with two pharmaceuticals can help prevent obesity among those being treated with anti-psychotic medication.

 

Funded by an Illawarra Health and Medical Institute (IHMRI) clinical grant, the trial plans on co-treating patients with two drugs, olanzapine and betahistine.

 

The team involved in the new trial are: UOW Graduate School of Medicine Professor Nagesh Pai, Associate Professor Chao Deng, Professor Xu-Feng Huang (IHMRI/School of Health Sciences) and Dr Judy Mullen from Graduate School of Medicine, in partnership with Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District psychiatrists, Drs Ram Malesu and Sharat Lal.

 

In 2008 UOW researchers identified the link between olanzapine-induced weight gain and its action on the histaminergic system, which regulates the appetite.

 

“Olanzapine is the most commonly prescribed and effective medication for people living with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” lead scientist Associate Professor Chao Deng said.

 

“Although, it has significantly improved the lives of people living with serious mental illnesses over the past two decades, it can also come with devastating side-effects: weight gain, obesity and, in some cases, type II diabetes,” he said.

 

Eager to reduce the incidence of preventable disease in a vulnerable population, Associate Professor Deng and his colleagues have been focusing their attention on another pharmaceutical agent, betahistine, which has been prescribed for common vestibular disorders, such as vertigo and dizziness, for over 40 years.  Betahistine has demonstrated a low rate (around 1 in100,000) of adverse side-effects.

 

In a recent animal model study, the IHMRI team identified that betahistine, combined with olanzapine, resulted in a significant decrease in appetite and a 45 per cent reduction in weight gain compared to subjects treated solely with olanzapine. The news came as a surprise given previous international studies, which reported that betahistine treatment had no consistent effect on body weight or appetite in the general over-weight population.

 

According to Professor Deng the findings, which have been recently published in the international Journal of Psychopharmacology, provide hope for the safe treatment of the obesity side effects.

 

“This study has shown that co-treatment of betahistine with olanzapine can hugely reduce the olanzapine-induced weight gain side effect through decreased feeding efficiency and food intake,” he said.

 

IHMRI Executive Director and UOW Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health) Professor Don Iverson also said that the study’s outcomes generated “real hope” for those being treated with antipsychotic medication.

 

“It is a good example of scientific research that translates into real outcomes for clinical treatment; precisely the kind of research that funding bodies around the world are encouraging,” he said.