Therapeutic approaches to bulimia nervosa

Approaches to the treatment of the eating disorder bulimia nervosa include hc,th pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies, Currently only one drug, fluoxetine, is approved for the treatment of bulimia nervosa. As inc reased food intake is an important common characteristic of bulimia nervosa and obesity, the same endogenous factors have been suggested to play a rol e in the pathogenesis of both conditions. Consequently, most research has f ocused on compounds affecting systems involved in appetite regulation and f ood intake, assuming that the uncontrolled urge of eating binges can thus b e reduced. The patent activity in this field has been dominated by inventio ns related to 5-HT (serotonin) receptors, neuropeptide Y receptors and cort icotrophin releasing factor receptors. In this article, more than 140 paten ts issued from 1998 to the first half of 2000 are reviewed.