Both drugs helped patients lose weight by elevating brain chemicals that control appetite.

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Millennium Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: MLNM - news - people ) and Abbott, for instance, are already in the early stages of human testing on a gene-derived medicine that helps control appetite.

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Many investors saw Arena's pill, which affects a part of the brain involved in appetite control, as safer than rival drugs.

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"This is a really small microchip and on this chip we've got the intelligence which can actually model the neural signals responsible for appetite control, " Prof Toumazou told the BBC.

BBC: News

But it could be one of the biggest hits yet in the quest to regulate appetite, control cravings and help treat heart disease.

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Dr. DAVID KESSLER (Author, "The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite"): Thank you for having me, Michel.

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So even as outrage is sparked over shootings such as that of Trayvon Martin in Florida and former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, there is little appetite for gun-control legislation.

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However, it is a tenacious company with a lot of money behind it, an appetite for wireless, and a desire for control over everything it does.

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In one case, the extract of a plant traditionally given to control thirst is to be marketed by a pharmaceutical company as an appetite suppressant.

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Prices on a few projects in Beijing and Shanghai have already been raised as buying appetite has reappeared, driving officials to reiterate that the control measures are here to stay, said Jinsong Du, a Credit Suisse analyst.

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