FDA Panel Recommends Approval of Another Iffy Weight-Loss Drug

Pharmaceutical companies are rushing to produce new weight loss drugs. But some of them come along with alarming side effects.

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I was riveted by an article in today's New York Times about the latest decision of an FDA drug advisory panel.

The panel voted to approve a new weight-loss drug, lorcaserin. The vote was mixed: 18 for approval, four against, and one abstention. The majority felt that the benefits outweighed the risks and that even if there were risks, "new tools are needed to treat a major health problem."

The benefits are worth a look.

What about the risks? The drug:

Also in the Times is a piece by Dr. Danielle Ofri on her experience with patients who want weight-loss drugs.

She quotes from an essay called "Lemons for Obesity" by Dr. Michael S. Lauer, who was a minority voter on the FDA panel that approved the weight-loss drug Qnexa earlier this year.

The weight-loss field is strewn with lemons, more so than other areas of medicine, Dr. Lauer argues. Because of the enormous potential market for these drugs -- two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese -- pharmaceutical companies rush new drugs to market after conducting only small clinical trials. The F.D.A. and doctors are complicit in the process, Dr. Lauer says, leaving the population at large to act essentially as guinea pigs.

Shares of the maker of the drug nearly doubled after the decision. The Times reported that "Arguments by investors have been passionate."

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FDA Panel Recommends Approval of Another Iffy Weight-Loss Drug