Written by Jamie Stowe| Wednesday, 08 December 2010| There is 1 comment
the FDA has not approved a prescription weight loss medication for over a decade
Following the recent setbacks of two new potential weight loss medications namely Lorcaserin and Qnexa there is some good news for the weight loss medication industry in that Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. has been given a positive recommendation from an FDA panel for its new weight-loss drug Contrave. The advisory panel voted 13- 7 in favour saying that the benefits of the drug to obese people outweighed any potential long-term risks.
This news is a big deal considering that the FDA has not approved a prescription weight loss medication for over a decade and that over 2/3 of American adults have weight problems. In fact when the news was released the shares in Orexigen Therapeutics Inc nearly tripled in price almost immediately.
Ms. Dawn Viveash from Orexigen said that the company was very aware of the recent FDA refusals of the products of Arena Pharmaceuticals and Vivus and that they were learning from the mistakes of their rivals.
Contrave has a little bit of an advantage in that it is a combination of two already FDA approved medications. It works by targeting parts of the brain that have an influence on appetite and cravings. The two medications it contains are bupropion which is an antidepressant sometimes used to help people quit smoking and also naltrexone that is used to help people with alcoholism and addiction to painkillers.
The Food & Drug Administration almost always follows the recommendations of its advisory panels and therefore the likelihood that Contrave will get full approval is extremely high. The decision is scheduled to be made by the end of January.
Some analysts said that Contrave was very similar to Reductil in that it worked as an appetite suppressant and they said that provided it continued to pass all safety checks it could bring in sales of as much as a billion dollars a year.
This new weight loss drug is unlikely to make it to the UK market for a couple of years but Ukmedix News will keep you up to date with any Contrave news.
