Will FDA approve 3 new weight loss drugs?
Will the 3 new weight loss drugs submitted for FDA approval test safe enough to be sold in the market without risky side effects? Vivu’s Qnexa will be the first to undergo a review panel this week followed by Contrave and Lorcaserin.
The drugs should first prove effective by meeting the FDA guideline that requires obesity drugs to reduce total body weight by at least five percent after one year.
Out of the three, Qnexa showed the best weight loss results in clinical trials, with patients losing between 13 to 15 percent of their body weight. Orexigen Therapeutics Inc.’s Contrave came next with 5 to 10 percent of weight loss. Patients in company trial lost only 5 perfect of their body weight for Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Lorcaserin.
Although there was weight loss in all three, there are reports of side effects as well. The issue of safety and side effects will be taken seriously for the weight loss drugs.
Qnexa is a combination of phentermine that has cardiovascular side effects and topamax with reports of kidney stones and suicide. The medication also had the highest rate of patients who dropped out of the study due to adverse side effects such as memory and concentration problems.
Orexigen’s Contrave is a combination of naltrexone (used to fight alcohol and drug addiction), and the antidepressant bupropion. Naltrexone’s side effects include gallbladder inflammation, seizure, palpitations, paresthesia and vertigo. Buproprion is may cause suicide. For Contrave, nausea is noted as a side effect.
Although none of the three medicine represents a breakthrough in research, Lorcaserine is new and it has a few side effects.
With such a high obesity rate in U.S., the new prescription drugs are held in high expectation by dieters, doctors and investors.
Lorcaserin is set for an FDA panel review in September and Contrave in December.