Safe, Effective, Accessible Therapeutics for Weight-loss and Maintenance
Our team is based at the University of Toronto in the Department of Physiology; working in cooperation with the UT Innovation and Partnerships Office
Our Discovery
Our novel discovery, ZAP-010, is a plant-derived compound that enables weight loss and maintenance in animals even with high-fat diet feeding.
In parallel, ZAP-010 improves glucose tolerance and prevents hyperinsulinemia and hyperleptinemia caused by high-fat diet, protecting animals from obesity-induced metabolic dysfunctions.
What ZAP-010 Can Do
Novel Weight loss strategy
Obesity is an emerging global health crisis primarily caused by a positive energy balance where we consume more energy than we expend. Obesity is also the leading risk factor for several chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, infertility, and various forms of cancer.
Tackling calorie over-consumption, one of the major causes of obesity, ZAP-010 acts on the feeding-regulatory region of the brain, the hypothalamus, to tune down orexigenic signals and suppress food intake.
Our Science
Our innovative solution targets the hypothalamus with a plant-derived hormone to reduce appetite and boost energy expenditure, addressing the root causes of obesity.
News
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At ENDO2024 in Boston, USA, we presented our newest finding of ZAP-010 to improve glucose tolerance and neuronal insulin sensitivity in the hypothalamus.
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At PANS2024 in Brazil, we were thrilled to present and share our work on the appetite suppressant and weight loss effects of ZAP-010 with researchers in North and South America.
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To translate our bench work to market, we have conducted market analysis through the NSERC Lab2Market grant and participated in the University of Toronto early-stage technologies program (UTEST; 2022). Due to the novelty of our discovery, we have patented the use of ZAP-010 as an appetite suppressant with a PCT patent filed in July 2023.
