14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers speaking at a meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago, US, this past June 22 detailed the use of a so-called smart pill to help overweight and obese individuals slim down.
The pill in question is dubbed Gelesis100, and manufacturer Gelesis, i.e. a company headquartered in Boston, says that it works by inducing satiety and reducing a person's daily caloric intake, Newswise reports.
Although the pill is yet to become available to the general public, it has been tested in clinical trials involving human patients, and its manufacturer claims that the results obtained while carrying out these experiments are promising.
During said meeting, the specialists who developed and tested Gelesis100 explained that, as part of the clinical trials, they administered the pill to a total of 85 volunteers. Another 43 individuals, who served as a control group, were given a placebo.
Of the overweight and obese people who actually received Gelesis100, 43 volunteers were offered doses of 2.25 grams, which they were asked to consume before lunch and dinner. The other 42 also took the smart pill before these two meals, but consumed 3.75 grams of Gelesis100 at a time.
Together with the volunteers who received placebo, the individuals who were administered the smart pill were asked to reduce their daily food intake by about 600 calories. All in all, the people who took part in these clinical trials had to stick to their diet for three months.
After these three months, it was discovered that the volunteers who had taken 2.25 grams of Gelesis100 had lost an average of 6.1% of their body weight. The ones who had consumed 3.75 grams and the ones in the placebo group were found to have lost 4.5% and 4.1% of their body weight, respectively.
Interestingly enough, it appears that weight loss was most pronounced among prediabetic individuals. Still, the use of Gelesis100, especially at doses of 3.75 grams, came with unpleasant side effects, such as bloating, flatulence, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
Commenting on the outcome of these clinical trials, researcher Hassan Heshmati said, “Given the excellent safety profile observed in the FLOW study, Gelesis100 has the potential to fulfill the unmet need for a safe and effective weight loss agent.”
“This is particularly impactful for individuals with mildly elevated blood sugar (prediabetic subjects), for whom weight loss is particularly important because they are at increased risk for diabetes,” the chief medical officer for Gelesis and study co-investigator added.
For the time being, Gelesis100 is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States. However, its manufacturers hope that it will not be long until this happens and that, when granted approval, this smart pill will be labeled and regulated as a medical device.