looks like the end of the research and development program

Another one bites the dust! Yet again a clinical trial has exposed a major problem with a new weight loss medication which means that it is almost certainly never to see the light of day. Vivus Inc. who have spent millions of pounds developing the appetite suppressant diet pill Qnexa suffered a serious setback when an association between the risk of oral cleft palates developing in children whose mothers had used topiramate was observed. Topiramate is a key ingredient of the Qnexa diet pill along with the phentermine appetite suppressant.

Clinical data showed that the risk of children developing cleft palates or cleft lips was almost 5.5 times greater for mothers who had used topiramate in the 1st trimester of their pregnancies. The data which was announced by Vivus led to a significant drop in share price and looks like the end of the research and development program for this once promising weight loss medication. Topiramate which is presently used to treat seizures and migraines is sold as Topamax and is owned by Johnson & Johnson.

Financial analysts from a number of different companies said that this new information made them wary of Qnexa ever being approved by the Food and Drug Administration in America. On the other hand some of them argued that the information about the link between oral clefts and topiramate was not unknown and therefore the FDA could approve the medication subject to warnings about possible dangerous side effects. The danger of course is that many women who might use this weight loss medication could take it without realizing that they were pregnant.

At present the only prescription weight loss medication approved for sale in the United Kingdom is the diet pill Xenical. Xenical which can be purchased after having an online consultation at the Ukmedix web site works by removing some of the fat that you ingest naturally from your digestive tract.