Weight and See

There are now three obesity compounds in late-stage development with positive Phase III data, which means the number of drugs available for the indication could double over the next few years. But at least some doctors believe that unless reimbursement practices change, it is unlikely that new drugs will be widely used.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. recently released data from the Phase III BLOOM trial of lorcaserin, in which the serotonin (5-HT2C) receptor agonist met all three co-primary endpoints. Patients treated with lorcaserin achieved a mean weight loss at 1 year of 5.8% vs. 2.2% for placebo (p<0.001). The compound also showed a significant weight loss of ³5% in 48% of patients vs. 20% for placebo (p<0.001), and the proportion of patients in the lorcaserin arm who lost 10% or more of their body weight from baseline was significantly different from placebo (23% vs. 8%)...