Experimental drug available for people with lipodystrophy

People in eastern North Carolina who have a rare condition that prevents them from being able to store fat might benefit from an investigational protocol East Carolina University physicians are conducting.

The condition is called lipodystrophy. It can be inherited from other family members or acquired. People with lipodystrophy tend to be thin and muscular since their bodies are not able to store fat.

Dr. Moahad Dar

Despite this, lipodystrophy leads to severe type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, early heart disease and other complications. In some patient with this condition, even high doses of insulin are not effective in controlling diabetes. An investigational medicine is being examined as a possible treatment for the inherited and acquired forms of lipodystrophy, said Dr. Moahad Dar, an endocrinologist and assistant professor at the Brody School of Medicine at ECU.

This investigation protocol is being conducted by the ECU Diabetes Clinical Research Center in the division of endocrinology. Dar acknowledged the strong support of his division chief Dr. Almond Drake III; Dr. Robert Tanenberg, director of the Diabetes Clinical Research Center who is also involved in this investigational protocol; and Belinda Turner, the study coordinator.

For more information about this investigational protocol, visit http://clinicaltrials.gov and search for “FHA 101 and lipodystrophy” or call Turner at 252-744-2630.