New Treatments & Clinical Trials for Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is a serious eating disorder where people severely restrict food intake, often to dangerous weights. It affects about 1 in 200 women and 1 in 2000 men at some point in their lives. Treatment typically involves nutritional rehabilitation, therapy, and medical monitoring, but relapse rates remain high and few medications have proven effective.

What's actually going on in research

Trials are testing new approaches to weight restoration, medications that address the brain circuits underlying food restriction, and therapies targeting the rigid thinking patterns common in anorexia. Researchers are also studying whether drugs used for other psychiatric conditions can reduce the anxiety and obsessive thoughts that drive restriction. Family-based therapy for adolescents is being refined and tested in different populations.

What to know before you search

Eligibility typically depends on body weight or BMI, duration of illness, whether someone is medically stable enough to participate, and in some trials whether they've completed initial weight restoration.

What types of trials are currently open

• Medication trials — Testing drugs to reduce anxiety around eating, address obsessive thoughts about food and weight, or help maintain weight after initial restoration.
• Therapy trials — Comparing different forms of psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy adapted for eating disorders and family-based treatment.
• Refeeding studies — Testing different approaches to nutritional rehabilitation, including the pace of weight restoration and what people eat during recovery.
• Relapse prevention — Testing treatments to help people maintain healthy weight after initial recovery, when relapse risk is highest.
• Brain imaging studies — Using MRI and other scans to understand how anorexia affects brain structure and function, and how treatment changes these patterns.