Rare human cases of leptin deficiency were soon found. Treatment with exogenous leptin (that is, leptin manufactured outside the body) produced dramatic reversals of the associated massive obesity. The discovery of leptin provoked tremendous excitement within the pharmaceutical and scientific communities. There was a sense that the obesity gene had, at long last, been found. However, while it played a crucial role in these rare cases of massive obesity, it was still to be determined whether it played any role in common human obesity. Exogenous leptin was administered to patients in escalating
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