Study: Amylin's metreleptin improves diabetes, lipid control among patients

SAN DIEGO — An investigational drug improved diabetes and lipid control in patients with partial lipodystrophy, according to a new study.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals announced Saturday results of a study of metreleptin, an analog of the human hormone leptin. Results of the study were presented at the 93rd annual meeting and expo of the Endocrine Society in Boston.

In the study, which the company is conducting under an investigational new drug treatment program authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, metreleptin is available to patients with rare forms of lipodystrophy who have one or more metabolic abnormalities, including diabetes and high levels of triglycerides in the bloodstream, also known as hypertriglyceridemia.

“We are committed to assisting patients who are living with lipodystrophy, a chronic and often debilitating disease that is not adequately managed by existing therapies,” Amylin SVP research and development Christian Weyer said. “Our expanded access program enables us to provide patients with metreleptin while we continue working with the FDA to make the medicine more broadly available to patients with this rare disorder.”