The license covers intellectual property covering a drug screening method using receptor-interacting protein 140 (Rip140), a nuclear hormone co-repressor which regulates fat accumulation.
Experiments conducted by Prof Malcolm Parker of Imperial show that, when Rip140 is silenced in mice, the animals exhibit a lean profile throughout their life, are resistant to diet induced obesity, and show an enhanced metabolic rate.
Silencing the gene means that the mice's fat tissue is converted to a more metabolically active form - i.e. brown adipose tissue rather than white - which is utilised more rapidly by the body.
Nuclear receptors play a critical role in regulating the metabolic processes required for energy balance. By binding to nuclear receptors in adipocytes, Rip140 regulates the function of key genes involved in energy metabolism. Suppression of Rip140 function is expected to shift the balance toward increased energy expenditure.
Steven Kriegsman, chief executive of CytRx, said the company would use the target to develop new drugs to treat 'the epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes that's been building over the last decade'.
"It is our ultimate objective with this discovery to develop a pill or an injectable that will help obese individuals lose weight and maintain their ideal body weight throughout their life," he commented.
This proprietary technology is covered by a pending patent application filed by Imperial, which will receive a license fee, milestone payments, and royalties on net sales of any resulting products.
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults overweight - at least 300 million of them clinically obese - and is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability, according to the World Health Organization.
In the US, obesity related deaths rose 33 per cent between 1990 and 2000 to an estimated 400,000. And, according to a recent Rand study, by 2020, approximately one in five healthcare dollars spent on people aged 50 to 70 will be due to obesity- related disabilities, if the current trend of overeating and inactivity continues.