EMERYVILLE, Calif., Sept. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Bionovo, Inc.
(NASDAQ:
BNVI), a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and
development of safe and effective treatments for women’s health and
cancer, today announced that Dr. Mary Tagliaferri, President and
Chief Medical Officer of Bionovo, will present the results of a
study on the effects of two botanically-derived, tissue selective
estrogen receptor modulators for the treatment of obesity at the
22nd Annual Meeting of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS)
in Washington DC on Friday, September 23, 2011.
On average, women transitioning through menopause experience a
10-15 pound weight gain with a redistribution of fat to the
abdomen. Menopausal changes of body weight and increased central
distribution of body fat have been identified as independent
predictors of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Dr.
Tagliaferri will present studies that identify a new class of
botanically-derived, tissue selective estrogen receptor modulators
in adipose tissue which cause weight loss in mice without the
unwanted proliferative effects in breast and uterine tissue that
are associated with cancer.
In this study, ovariectomized female mice, mimicking menopause,
were placed on a high fat diet for one month prior to initiation of
treatment. While the untreated mice continued to gain weight, the
mice administered with estrogens or the botanically-derived tissue
selective estrogen receptor modulators lost weight. While estrogens
had positive effects on the body fat mass, they significantly
increased the size of the mammary gland and uterus. In contrast,
the botanically-derived tissue selective estrogen receptor
modulators did not adversely affect either the breast or uterine
tissue. These findings suggest that the development of
botanically-derived, tissue selective estrogen receptor modulators
result in safer altern
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