* Product combines versions of two hormones
* No cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric safety signals seen
* Shares rise 1.1 percent
(Adds analyst comment, updates share price)
NEW YORK, July 9 (Reuters) - Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc
(AMLN.O) said on Thursday a mid-stage study of its combination
obesity treatment yielded positive results, but investors were
unimpressed and the company's stock rose just 1 percent.
The Phase II, 28-week study randomized 608 overweight or
obese patients to either placebo or various doses of
pramlintide, the active ingredient in Symlin, a drug used to
treat diabetes, and metreleptin, a synthetic analog of the
human hormone leptin, which is secreted by fat cells and plays
a role in regulating metabolism.
Patients with a body mass index of less than 35 -- in other
words, the less severely overweight subjects -- who were
treated with the highest dose of the product, experienced 11
percent weight loss on average compared with 1.8 percent for
those on placebo. The results did not excite investors.
"We continue to view this particular obesity opportunity
with a degree of skepticism," Thomas Russo, an analyst at
Robert W. Baird, said in a research note.
While the study showed no cardiovascular or
neuropsychiatric side effects -- issues that have doomed other
potential obesity treatments -- the drug must be injected
several times a day, a potentially serious drawback to its
popularity.
"The efficacy results look better than what we have seen
with oral agents so far and we think the safety signals appear
manageable," said Steve Yoo, an analyst at Leerink Swann. "It
remains to be seen whether better efficacy will trump the
inconvenience of twice daily injections in the marketplace."
Amylin said the results confirm previous mid-stage results
with the combination product and "provide a solid foundation
for the company's ongoing obesity development program."
Amylin shares rose roughly 1.1 percent to $12.43 in early
afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Toni Clarke and Lewis Krauskopf, editing by
Gerald E. McCormick and Matthew Lewis)
