Can a next-gen take on a dead­ly weight loss pill con­quer car­diometa­bol­ic dis­eases? A Medicxi-backed start­up thinks so

Most drug de­vel­op­ers might re­mem­ber DNP, the yel­low­ish com­pound that’s been used over the years as a her­bi­cide and chem­i­cal in­ter­me­di­ate, as a dead­ly di­et pill. But Sha­har­yar Khan and Allen Cun­ning­ham won­dered about the ef­fect that it has shown, first in a 1930s study, in burn­ing ex­cess calo­ries.

The duo, who have worked to­geth­er for close to 20 years at a biotech fo­cused on mi­to­chon­dria-based ther­a­pies, found the bi­ol­o­gy fa­mil­iar. In cells — whether you’re a yeast or a hu­man be­ing — a mi­to­chon­dria takes sub­strates, fats and sug­ars and gen­er­ates en­er­gy. Slow that down, the the­o­ry goes, and the body burns more calo­ries to get its en­er­gy then re­turns to a state of en­er­gy bal­ance.

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