New Drugs Help Obese Patients Lose Weight and Control Diabetes
The World Health Organization has projected that over seven hundred million adults will become obese by 2015. With obesity comes the risk of contracting type 2 diabetes.
In a race to develop drug therapy treatments, several pharmaceutical companies are close to releasing versions of their weight loss pills for obese patients with diabetes. Orexigen Therapeutics Inc the makers of Contrave, Vivis Inc. the makers of Qnexa and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. the makers of Lorcaserin, are all attempting to bring new obesity drug treatments to the market with a FDA regulatory decision expected in the fall of 2010 on the feasibility of approval.
Initial studies have proven to be promising with patients losing as much as 5% of their body fat during the initial studies. Besides losing weight, patients also received the benefit of reducing their blood glucose levels as compared to placebo test groups.
These initial findings show the potential for drug therapy on obese patients to help control their weight as well as their blood sugar levels.
