A comprehensive look at the fight against the metabolic syndrome epidemic

Increasing risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, the metabolic syndrome is a world health problem that demands attention from all levels of the health care industry. Metabolic Syndrome: Underlying Mechanisms and Drug therapies extensively covers the metabolic syndrome with an emphasis on drug discovery efforts, providing a context of molecular mechanisms and drug pharmacology for pharmaceutical scientists.

The book starts by examining the physiology of metabolic tissues under normal and disease states, followed by discussions of metabolic diseases and clinical complications. The development of drug therapies based on emerging science is then covered extensively. In addition, there is an in-depth look into the metabolic pathways and dysfunctions in metabolic disease, especially type 2 diabetes and lipid disorders. Finally, a chapter is devoted to past successes and failures in metabolic drug discovery as well as an outlook on future development and challenges.

Divided into four parts, the book:

• Addresses important metabolic syndrome basics at the psychological level and metabolic abnormalities at the tissue and pathway levels
• Covers the identification of pathways and molecular targets for the development of anti-diabetic therapies
• Details pharmaceutical industry approach to solving metabolic and obesity related problems
• Describes drug therapies and their limitations and complications, offering a “lessons learned” from existing treatments

With a clear organization and extensive collection of references, the book is a user-friendly and unique tool for scientists in a variety of scientific disciplines in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.