Weight-loss drug under study may also improve heart health

The recent history of medications to help people lose weight isn’t pretty. Several drugs have been removed from the market for safety problems. And, more recently, some medications in late-stage clinical trials were shelved because of safety problems. The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating the risks and benefits of a drug that is already on the market, sibutramine (Meridia), because of evidence that it might be unsafe for some people with heart disease. Only one other prescription drug, orlistat (Xenical), is on the market.

It’s against this backdrop that researchers report Wednesday on a new drug under investigation. A phase-three study of more than 3,000 obese or overweight adults showed that those taking the experimental compound lorcaserin lost more weight after one year than people taking a placebo pill. Just over 47% of the people taking lorcaserin lost 5% or more of their body weight compared to 20.3% of people in the placebo group.

The study, released Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine also showed that lorcaserin produced slight improvements in blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol and insulin resistance. The overall effects on the drug for weight loss is comparable to two drugs already on the market, noted Dr. Arne Astrup, an obesity expert at the University of Copenhagen, in a commentary accompanying the study. But lorcaserin appears to have an edge in safety and beneficial effects on the heart.

“The justification for using lorcaserin to manage obesity is not greater efficacy than currently available drugs, but rather an apparently much better safety and adverse-event profile and very clear-cut beneficial effects on risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” he wrote.

Arena Pharmaceuticals is seeking FDA approval to market the drug. A decision from the FDA is expected later this year. The agency is also considering approval of two other weight-loss drugs, Qnexa and Contrave.