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From The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics
September 3, 2014

Two Drugs for Weight Loss

JAMA. 2014;312(9):955-957. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.10644

In 2012, the FDA approved one new drug and a new combination of 2 old drugs as adjuncts to lifestyle changes for chronic weight management. Lorcaserin (lor-ca-SER-in; Belviq – Arena/Esai) is a selective serotonin 2C receptor agonist (Table 1). Qsymia (Vivus) is a fixed-dose combination of the weight-loss drug phentermine and an extended-release (ER) formulation of topiramate. The new products are approved for use in obese patients (body mass index [BMI] of ≥30 kg/m2) and for patients who are overweight (BMI ≥27 kg/m2) and have one weight-related risk factor such as hypertension, dyslipidemia or type 2 diabetes.

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