Xenical

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports of liver damage in patients taking alli, the only nonprescription weight-loss drug approved by the agency. Regulators say they have received more than 30 reports of liver damage in patients taking alli and Xenical, the prescription version of the drug. The reports, between 1999 and October 2008, included 27 hospitalized patients and six who suffered liver failure. Alli and Xenical are marketed by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline, although Xenical is manufactured by the Swiss firm Roche.

After first being turned down by the Food and Drug Administration, makers of the investigational weight-loss drug Qnexa have promising new data to report and will ask less of the FDA this time around. Vivus, Inc, of Mountain View, Calif., sought FDA approval last year to market Qnexa for weight loss in adults. But the request was denied with the FDA citing a potential side effect in women who become pregnant while taking the medication. Qnexa is a combination of two existing drugs -- the stimulant phentermine and the anti-seizure drug topiramate.

After first being turned down by the Food and Drug Administration, makers of the investigational weight-loss drug Qnexa have promising new data to report and will ask less of the FDA this time around. Vivus, Inc, of Mountain View, Calif., sought FDA approval last year to market Qnexa for weight loss in adults. But the request was denied with the FDA citing a potential side effect in women who become pregnant while taking the medication. Qnexa is a combination of two existing drugs -- the stimulant phentermine and the anti-seizure drug topiramate.

In their quest to find drugs to curb obesity, scientists have had about as much success as long-term dieters who want to stay thin — which is to say, very little. In fact, the last year has been so bleak on the research front that some experts are questioning whether a long-desired safe and effective diet pill can be found. Advisory panels for the Food and Drug Administration recommended against approval of two experimental weight-loss drugs this year — Lorqess in September and Qnexa in July — citing unacceptable risks for unimpressive benefits.

In a rebuke of the Abbott Laboratories diet drug Meridia, eight of 16 members of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said Wednesday that the drug should be withdrawn from the U.S. market. Six of the panelists said the drug should be prescribed only by "specially trained physicians. " The other two panelists said a new black box warning should be added to alert doctors to the increased risks of heart attacks and the need for closer monitoring of patients' blood pressure, pulse and body weight.

The prescription diet drug sibutramine, sold under the brand name Meridia, should be taken off the market because it raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes in some patients, the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine said Wednesday. Those risks, published in January on a government clinical-trials website and now in full in the journal, outweigh the modest benefits of the medication, said Dr. Gregory D. Curfman, the journal's executive editor and lead author of an editorial that accompanied the study.

In their quest to find drugs to curb obesity, scientists have had about as much success as long-term dieters who want to stay thin — which is to say, very little. In fact, the last year has been so bleak on the research front that some experts are questioning whether a long-desired safe and effective diet pill can be found. Advisory panels for the Food and Drug Administration recommended against approval of two experimental weight-loss drugs this year — Lorqess in September and Qnexa in July — citing unacceptable risks for unimpressive benefits.

Roche Holding, which is trying to revive demand for its Xenical obesity pill, said the medicine may delay or prevent the development of the most common form of diabetes. Patients taking Xenical who also made lifestyle changes reduced their risk of developing diabetes by 37%, a four-year study sponsored by Roche showed. Switzerland's second-biggest drug maker has changed its marketing for the pill and now offers three months of the medicine free to U.S. patients who purchase three months' worth.

Drugstore shelves are brimming with shakes, herbs and other products to facilitate weight loss -- but the vast majority of them have not been shown to work. It's possible that a proven medication that helps modestly with weight loss may join their ranks next year. The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline has asked the Food and Drug Administration for permission to sell a low-dose version of its diet drug Xenical over the counter.

The Food and Drug Administration is one step away from approving a new kind of diet drug, provided its manufacturer can clear up concerns about the drug's possible link to breast cancer. The drug, Xenical (pronounced ZEN-i-cal), could be the much-sought successor to the popular diet drug combination known as fen-phen, which all but ended when one of the two drugs in its potent formula was pulled from the market in September after being linked to potentially life-threatening heart valve problems.

In a rebuke of the Abbott Laboratories diet drug Meridia, eight of 16 members of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said Wednesday that the drug should be withdrawn from the U.S. market. Six of the panelists said the drug should be prescribed only by "specially trained physicians. " The other two panelists said a new black box warning should be added to alert doctors to the increased risks of heart attacks and the need for closer monitoring of patients' blood pressure, pulse and body weight.

The prescription diet drug sibutramine, sold under the brand name Meridia, should be taken off the market because it raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes in some patients, the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine said Wednesday. Those risks, published in January on a government clinical-trials website and now in full in the journal, outweigh the modest benefits of the medication, said Dr. Gregory D. Curfman, the journal's executive editor and lead author of an editorial that accompanied the study.

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports of liver damage in patients taking alli, the only nonprescription weight-loss drug approved by the agency. Regulators say they have received more than 30 reports of liver damage in patients taking alli and Xenical, the prescription version of the drug. The reports, between 1999 and October 2008, included 27 hospitalized patients and six who suffered liver failure. Alli and Xenical are marketed by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline, although Xenical is manufactured by the Swiss firm Roche.

Drugstore shelves are brimming with shakes, herbs and other products to facilitate weight loss -- but the vast majority of them have not been shown to work. It's possible that a proven medication that helps modestly with weight loss may join their ranks next year. The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline has asked the Food and Drug Administration for permission to sell a low-dose version of its diet drug Xenical over the counter.

Roche Holding, which is trying to revive demand for its Xenical obesity pill, said the medicine may delay or prevent the development of the most common form of diabetes. Patients taking Xenical who also made lifestyle changes reduced their risk of developing diabetes by 37%, a four-year study sponsored by Roche showed. Switzerland's second-biggest drug maker has changed its marketing for the pill and now offers three months of the medicine free to U.S. patients who purchase three months' worth.

The Food and Drug Administration is one step away from approving a new kind of diet drug, provided its manufacturer can clear up concerns about the drug's possible link to breast cancer. The drug, Xenical (pronounced ZEN-i-cal), could be the much-sought successor to the popular diet drug combination known as fen-phen, which all but ended when one of the two drugs in its potent formula was pulled from the market in September after being linked to potentially life-threatening heart valve problems.

As people gain weight, their blood pressure tends to go up. Fortunately, as they lose weight, their blood pressure tends to go down -- but only so far, says Dr. Karol Watson, co-director of preventive cardiology and director of the hypertension clinic at UCLA. "If your body weight is normal, getting below doesn't help," she says. Even modest weight loss (say, 5% to 10% of your current heft) is effective at lowering blood pressure for those who have high blood pressure or prehypertension.

This is not shaping up to be a good year for people seeking medical help for weight loss. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Thursday voted against recommending approval of the drug lorcaserin. This is the third negative vote on prescription obesity drugs this year by the advisory committee.   The committee voted, 9 to 5, agaianst recommending approval because the risks of the drugs outweighed the potential benefit of modest weight loss. Studies in animals showed the drug was associated with tumors, although an increased cancer risk has not been seen in human clinical trials.