Obesity drug Famoxin gives Genset shot in the arm PARIS, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Investors scrambled to buy shares in French biotechnology firm Genset *GENX.LN* on Tuesday after the company announced pre-clinical tests showed its anti-obesity drug Famoxin was effective in treating laboratory mice. Genset said its star drug, for which it now plans to begin human clinical trials at the end of the year, had caused obese laboratory mice to lose weight without a change in their diet. The findings were published in the on-line edition of respected industry journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If Famoxin passes human clinical trials, where many drugs fail, it would complete the group's dramatic transformation from genomics boutique to successful drug developer. "We will know if it works on humans at the beginning of 2002," said Francois Hamon, analyst at CIC EIFB in Paris. "I give them a good chance of proving it works and developing a drug which is likely to be limited to obese diabetes patients." Shares in Genset, which surged last month on hopes that Famoxin could pave the way for a partnership with a large drugs group, were suspended from trading in Paris for much of Tuesday as a flood of buy orders pushed the stock to its upper-limit. When the shares finally began trading at 1445 GMT, they showed a rise of 17.53 percent to 59 euros. A SMALL REVOLUTION? Famoxin is a protein that Genset says helps burn fat in much the same way insulin converts sugar into forms of energy the body can use. Bernard Bihain, who heads the firm's obesity research and is the driving force behind Famoxin, warned against over-optimism but said mice that were given the protein had lost roughly eight percent of their weight in just two weeks. "It is certainly not a miracle, but it could eventually be a small revolution," Bihain told Europe 1 radio. He said he hoped the first tests would take place on humans at the end of this year, although the drug w...
