Fortunately, today we now know more about the causes of obesity than ever before. The last decade has shed much light on how body weight is controlled. A major breakthrough was the cloning of the first obesity gene, ob. This discovery opened the door to a far greater understanding that obesity is a complex disease of appetite regulation and energy metabolism, which is controlled by many factors. In attempting to understand the underlying cause of obesity and diabetes Roche, in collaboration with partners such as Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has pursued a genetic approach. This approach, coupled with a major investment in this area, has resulted in the identification of several genes associated with obesity and diabetes in the ob pathway related to energy expenditure and satiety. This research has also given us tremendous opportunities to identify novel molecular targets for effective drug therapies.
However, a disease that is so complex—and increasingly so culturally insidious—demands a varied approach to finding successful treatments. The following articles give a sense of the multi-faceted research being done to address this important disease and its associated risk factors. Our collective research findings are critical to changing the prevailing medical and public perception about obesity and recognizing it as a serious disease with grave complications.
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