Keeping off weight
July 19, 2010
CLINICAL trials of Arena
Pharmaceutical’s new weight-loss
pill Lorcaserin have revealed that it
could be a solution for long term
weight loss.
The trial of 3,100 obese patients
found that 48% of participants
taking Lorcaserin lost 5% or more
of their body weight as compared
to 20% of participants who lost the
same amount on the placebo.
In addition, the majority of
Lorcaserin patients that kept taking
the drug into the second year of the
trial, managed to keep the weight
that they had lost from returning.
Lorcaserin is said to work in a
similar manner to the defunct ‘fenphen’
product, which was withdrawn
from the US market in 1997 due to
its links to heart value problems,
high blood pressure and cholesterol.
The recent trials of Lorcaserin
have however turned up no
significant side effects, excepting
headaches and dizziness.
The FDA is expected to look at
Arena’s application in Sep, with
industry pundits predicting its
approval, effectively making it the
first prescription diet drug to be
launched in the US in ten years.
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