Lorcaserin: Diet Pill Shows Promise, Little Risk

An experimental diet pill helped about half the people who tried it lose some weight and keep it off a year later, without the heart problems that some earlier drugs caused, a study found. Arena Pharmaceuticals' lorcaserin is one of three drugs that are boosting hope for a new generation of more effective weight-loss medicines. One gets a Food and Drug Administration review on Thursday and the others, later this year. In the study, lorcaserin (lore-KASS-ah-rin) caused more people to lose at least 5 percent of their body weight over one year, more than twice the rate achieved by those on dummy pills. The drug targets the same appetite pathway fen-phen did but in a more selective, and perhaps safer, manner. The study involved more that 3,100 obese or overweight people given either the drug or dummy pills. Those on dummy pills kept taking them, while the people on lorcaserin were assigned either to keep getting it or to switch to dummy pills. Of those in the lorcaserin group who had lost at least 5 percent of their body weight in the first year of the study, about 68 percent who kept taking the drug kept the weight off, versus 50 percent of those switched to dummy pills. Unlike some other obesity drugs, lorcaserin did not raise heart rates or blood pressure. In fact, cholesterol levels and other risk factors for heart disease improved in those on the drug. and orlistat, a drug that blocks fat absorption and is sold as the prescription drug Xenical or the over-the-counter Alli. It combines phentermine and topiramate, a drug used for migraines and epilepsy that has raised safety concerns. The second is used to decrease cravings for alcohol and illegal drugs.