New anti-obesity drug gets USFDA nod

May 11, 2012 08:38

A panel of independent experts urged the US Food and Drug Administration to approve the first new anti-obesity drug in more than a decade -- Lorcaserin, made by Arena Pharmaceuticals.

The committee voted 18-4 in favor of the drug, which works to control the appetite through receptors in the brain, after trial data showed it helped nearly half of patients studied lose up to five percent of their body weight.

The drug was rejected in 2010 by the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee, which advises the FDA, over concerns that it formed breast tumors in rats. However, those effects did not appear in trials on overweight and obese humans, and the 18-4 vote showed strong support that its benefits outweigh the risks.

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