METHOD AND USE OF CIRCULATING LEVELS OF ENDOCANNABINOID LIGANDS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF PATIENT IN NEED AND/OR SUITABLE FOR CB1R ANTAGONIST DRUG TREATMENT AS WELL AS METHOD FOR INDUCING WEIGHT LOSS/MAINTENANCE/GAIN

摘要

The present invention relates to patient selection tools and methods (including personalised medicine). In particular, the present invention permits the im proved selection of a patient in need of treatment with a cannabinoid re ceptor (CB1R) antagoni st drug, based on the levels of circulating endogenous cannabinoi d ligands (endocannabi noids). One of the aspects of the invention is a method of select ing a mammal in need of weight loss and/or weight maintenance and/or pr evention of weight gain treatment with a CB1R antagonist drug which comprises determining the leve l of at least one circulating endogenous cannabinoid ligand in the mamma l, whereby to predict an in creased likelihood of response to the CB1R antagonist drug. Some of the benefits of this personalised medicine approach include the ability to identify patients that are more likely to respond favourably to CB1R antagonist drug treatment and to identify pa tients less likely to respond to the drug treatment thus avoiding unnecessary treatment and any side eff ects that may be associated with such ineffective treatment.