An update in the management of obesity: the weight of CNS targets

Obesity is one of the most important and disturbing global epidemic that affects humans, with more than 2 billion people overweight and 700 million obese predicted for 2015 by the World Health Organization. Obesity treatment represents then one of the most exciting challenges for the academic researchers and the pharmaceutical industry. But to date, this community failed to develop safe and effective treatments with a good risk/benefit profile. Indeed, most of the drugs previously used as anti-obesity agents have been withdrawn from the market for safety issues, and therapeutic options in form of a medication are currently very limited. This last decade however, new advances in our understanding of central pathways controlling food intake, body weight and energy homeostasis have led to the discovery of new molecular targets that could provide interesting options in the fight against obesity. This review aims to be an overview of the new patents exploiting the anorexigenic properties of the central catabolic pathways or aimed at blocking the orexigenic effects of the anabolic pathways, in the hope to develop new anti-obesity drugs.