A new breakthrough for obese people is in the works after a new study has found that cutting off blood vessels that nourish fat tissues could destroy body fat resulting in weight loss.

Researchers based their study on the ideas of a prominent oncologist, Dr. Judah Folkman, who suggested that cancer cells would die if the blood vessels that feed them were killed.

In the study which appeared online in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers tested an experimental drug called adipotide in obese rhesus monkeys and the result was that the monkeys lost about 11 percent of their body weight after a 28-day treatment.

The experiment showed that the drug affects white fat since only the obese monkeys lost weight on the drug, while lean monkeys that took it were not affected.

"Apparently this is something specific to white fat. We definitely don't see lean subjects losing weight," said study author Renata Pasqualini, of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

However, there are concerns about the drug's possible side effects. While the monkeys in the study generally tolerated the drug well, their kidney function was reduced while on the drug.

But considering that many suffer from obesity, the new drug is an important development. Further research is being conducted on the drug, which is licensed to the pharmaceutical company Ablaris Therapeutics, under a license from the University of Texas, with which MD Anderson is affiliated.