Weight-loss drug obtains FDA approval

After 13 suspenseful years, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a pill that could help to fight the US obesity epidemic.

According to the FDA, Belviq (lorcaserin) can help people to lose about 3–4% of their body weight when combined with a healthy diet and exercise. The drug has been approved for use by obese people with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30, and for a subset of overweight people (with a BMI of more than 27) who have health conditions such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.

The FDA had already rejected Arena’s first application for approval of Belviq in September 2010 because the compound seemed to produce tumours in rats and because the company could not statistically rule out an increase in the risk of heart-valve problems. Similar to fenfluramine, Belviq suppresses food cravings by mimicking the effects of serotonin in the brain, making people eat less and feel full. However, Belviq seems to activate only the serotonin 2C receptor in the brain, not the serotonin 2B receptor that is present in heart muscle.

The FDA’s turnaround this week came after Arena performed echocardiograms in nearly 8,000 people to measure heart-valve function, which revealed that there was no increase in heart-valve abnormalities among those taking the drug. The firm has agreed to run six post-marketing studies, including a long-term cardiovascular trial, and patients with congestive heart failure are advised not to take the drug.

Source: Nature (doi:10.1038/nature.2012.10923) http://www.nature.com/news/weight-loss-drug-wins-us-approval-1.10923

New drug to prevent pregnant obese women to give birth to obese babies

A UK trial will soon be under way whereby a commonly used diabetes pill will be administered to obese pregnant women in an attempt to prevent overweight mothers from delivering obese babies.

Obese women who become pregnant are generally at risk of complications such as pre-eclampsia (potentially fatal), fetal death, possible birth defects and a greater number of caesarean deliveries. Children born to obese mothers are twice as likely to be obese and to develop type 2 diabetes later in life. Obesity during pregnancy is also associated with greater use of health care services and a longer hospital stay.

Given the disturbing trend of increasing obesity among women in many developed countries, the answer is, apparently, to counter this by medicating babies while still in the womb. The trial will involve 100 obese but non-diabetic volunteers at hospitals in Liverpool and Coventry, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. Half will take the drug Metformin after the first trimester of their pregnancies and the other half will take a placebo.

Many weight loss groups and others feel that this news is most disturbing and gives the message that there is a solution to conditions such as obesity, which involve simply taking a pill as a "cure". The emphasis, they feel, should be on encouraging mothers-to-be to lose excess weight before even considering bringing a child into the world.

Studies have consistently shown that lifestyle modification that includes a healthy diet, regular exercise and weight management can prevent the many and various conditions associated with obesity, such as diabetes, gestational diabetes mellitus, and so on.

The ethics of medicating babies while in the womb, or the possible long-term effects of administering drugs of this nature, are also reasons for concern.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...