About the Authors

Roxanne Dutia

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York, United States of America

Andrea J. Kim

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York, United States of America

Matthew Modes

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York, United States of America

Robert Rothlein

Affiliation TransTech Pharma, Inc., High Point, North Carolina, United States of America

Jane M. Shen

Affiliation TransTech Pharma, Inc., High Point, North Carolina, United States of America

Ye Edward Tian

Current address: Impact Therapeutics. Inc, Nanjing, China

Affiliation TransTech Pharma, Inc., High Point, North Carolina, United States of America

Jumana Ihbais

Affiliation TransTech Pharma, Inc., High Point, North Carolina, United States of America

Sam F. Victory

Affiliation TransTech Pharma, Inc., High Point, North Carolina, United States of America

Carmen Valcarce

Affiliation TransTech Pharma, Inc., High Point, North Carolina, United States of America

Sharon L. Wardlaw

sw22@columbia.edu

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York, United States of America

Competing Interests

JMS, YET, JI, SFV and CV are employed by TransTech Pharma, Inc. TransTech Pharma Inc. has developed a small molecule, non-peptide, orally active AgRP inhibitor, TTP 2515, which was used in this study. TTP2515 and its uses are covered by a pending United States Patent Application that is owned by TransTech Pharma. The United States Patent Application Number is 12/547,018, and the application was published as United States Patent Publication Number 2010-0056587. There are no further patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RD SLW. Performed the experiments: RD AJK MM. Analyzed the data: RD SLW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: RR JMS YET JI SFV CV. Wrote the paper: RD SLW. Involved with development, production and characterization of TTP2515: RR JMS YET JI SFV CV. Participated on behalf of TransTech Pharma in the initial experimental design of these studies: RR JMS YET. Performed studies with TTP2515 in HEK293 cells: YET.