The weight loss imperative

While a recent study of obese Type II diabetes patients who received gastric banding surgery reinforces growing evidence that weight loss is the primary driver of diabetes remission in these patients, surgery itself is not likely to soon replace other forms of therapy or become a first-line treatment option. However, it is likely to become more common as a second- or third-line option in obese patients with milder diabetes.

For drug developers, the most immediate impact of the study could be to shrink the market for diabetes drugs that cause weight gain and increase interest in diabetes drugs that cause weight loss or are at least weight-neutral. By extension, the results also suggest that companies not already looking at weight loss as an endpoint may want to consider adding it in their trials of diabetes compounds. ...