Jena, June 21, 2007 – Today approximately every third adult German citizen is considerably overweight and should reduce weight for medical reasons. Overweight and adiposity cause huge costs for the health care system. For years, the prevalence for adiposity continuously increases in the western countries. In Germany, approximately 50% of men suffer from overweight and with a BMI > 30 about 18% are adipose. Just about 5% of all sanitary expenditures in the developed countries have already been spent on the treatment of adiposity and its consequences, with increasing tendency. However, only few of the concerned persons know the difference between both types of fat existing in the human body: outer fat (white) and visceral fat. The latter is to be found particularly in the abdominal cavity of men – even if they are not highly overweight. Adiposity is normally defined by means of the Body-Mass-Index (BMI).

However, recent results have shown that visceral (abdominal) fat (simply measured by the abdominal girth) is a better predictor for heart attacks than weight or the BMI. The reduction of abdominal fat is first priority in order to avoid cardiovascular diseases. Visceral adiposity (a chronic disease) is a crucial risk factor for the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, being the most prevalent causes of death in Germany. Intraabdominal, thus visceral fat is metabolically more energetic than other adipose and consists of large insulin resistant adipocytes. Moreover, these fat cells show a higher density of adrenergic receptors. Adipolysis is driven up, antiadipolysis is driven down, both causing an increased circulation of nonesterified fatty acids that contributes to cardiovascular morbidity. At the same time, fat cells produce hormones, peptides and small molecules interfering with the cardiovascular regulation mechanisms. In most cases diets are not perserved permanently and do not directly influence either visceral fat. Surgeries can achieve a cosmetic effect but cannot reduce visceral fat permanently. For the first time researchers of biolitec AG successfully managed to reduce visceral fat in an animal model. The selective, minimal invasive therapy of the visceral fat tissue based on light and the injected biolitec drug Temoporfin® lead to a reduction in weight of about 10% on average just shortly after a singular treatment. This result raises every adipose patients’ hopes that visceral adiposity can soon be combated successfully.

biolitec AG plans to push the development work up to a routine application also used in patients in the next two or three years.

Currently biolitec AG has put out a clinical study for the treatment of lipomas / lipodystrophy in Argentina. Lipomas / lipodystrophy are benign tumours emerging from mature fat cells. Dysfunctions of fat distribution, like the so called “bull neck”, are often found with AIDS-patients and change the patients appearance, hence reducing their quality of life.