It was while he was working in a German clinical obesity and diabetes lab that Christian Weyer realized willpower only went so far in helping patients lose weight. Motivated by his desire to understand the pathophysiology of the two diseases, Weyer left the clinical world and eventually signed on with San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals in 2001 as vice president of Medical Development. “We treat [obesity] the same way we did 20 to 30 years ago,” says Weyer. “But as the scientific understanding improves, our ability to create successful therapeutics becomes greater and greater.” Working under the assumption that obesity is regulated by the complex interplay of multiple hormones, Weyer and his colleagues discovered the synergistic interaction between amylin and leptin, which helps stimulate weight loss (p. 34). A duel-hormone therapy is currently in late-stage testing.
Alissa Poh started where many science journalists do—in the lab. However, “studying one molecule wasn’t ...
