It may seem an obvious answer to the pressing question of tackling the spiraling obesity epidemic – better diet and more exercise.
But, for those people at the extreme end of the spectrum, there exist a number of medical and surgical interventions to try and speed up their weight loss.
Various drugs are marketed as weight-loss wonder pills, capable of helping a person shed pounds.
Now, a new study has revealed five such drugs that actually work – one of which is available in the UK, while all five are prescribed in the US.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego analysed data from nearly 30,000 overweight or obese adults.
A new study has analyzed the effectiveness of the five FDA-approved weight-loss drugs available to obese and overweight patients in the US.One, orlistat, is also available under the brand name Alli in the UK
FDA-APPROVED WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS THAT WORK
| Drug name |
Brand name |
% patients who lost 5% body weight in 1 year |
Average weight lost |
| 1.
phentermine/topiramate |
Qsymia |
75% |
19.4lbs |
| 2. liraglutide |
Saxenda |
63% |
11.7lbs |
| 3. naltrexone-bupropion |
Contrave |
55% |
11lbs |
| 4.
lorcaserin |
Belviq |
49% |
7.1lbs |
| 5. orlistat |
Xenical or Alli (US and UK) |
44% |
5.7lbs |
| |
|
|
|
| Placebo |
|
23% |
|
| Source: University of California, San Diego |
|
|
|
They found, that when compared to a placebo, orlistat, lorcaserin, naltrexone-bupropion, phentermine-topiramate and liraglutide were all linked with achieved at least five per cent weight loss over the course of a year.
Researchers found phentermine-topiramate and liraglutide were the most effective of the five.
While, the researchers refer throughout the study, to the drug names, they are known to patients by their brand names:
- orlistat: Xenical, Alli
- lorcaserin: Belviq
- naltrexone and bupropion: Contrave
- phentermine/topiramate: Qsymia
- liraglutide: Saxenda
With around 1.9 billion adults across the world classified as overweight, and another 600 million tipping the scales at obese, identifying effective long-term treatment strategies is of paramount importance.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved these five weight-loss drugs for long-term use in obese and overweight patients.
To be classified as obese, a person’s body mass index must be 30 or higher, meanwhile overweight is classed as a BMI of over 27.
Orlistat, which is marketed under the brand names Alli (left) and Xenical (right) was found to help 44 per cent of patients given the drug lose five per cent body weight over the course of a year – an average of 5.7lbs
The drug liraglutide, marketed as Saxenda, was one of the most effective, helping 63 per cent of patients achieve five per cent weight loss in a year – an average of 11.7lbs
Furthermore, these drugs are also available via prescription to patients with at least one weight-associated condition – type 2 diabetes, hypertension or hyperlipidemia, for example.
However, despite the FDA’s approval for use of these drugs, evidence on their comparative effectiveness has to date been limited.
Dr Siddharth Singh and colleagues undertook a systematic review, anaylzing a series of randomized trials that included overweight and obese people treated with the FDA-approved weight-loss drugs.
All clinical trials reviewed took place for at least one year, and included a control group given a placebo drug.
Twenty-eight randomized clinical trials with 29,018 patients of an average age of 46 were included.
Seventy-four per cent were women, and their average weight at the start of the trials was 222lbs – with an average BMI of 36.1.
The researchers discovered an average of 23 per cent of participants given placebos had at least five per cent weight loss over the course of a year.
That compared with 75 per cent of people taking phentermine-topiramate, 63 per cent taking liraglutide, 55 per cent taking naltrexone-bupropion, 49 per cent taking lorcaserin and 44 per cent taking orlistat.
Naltrexone and bupropion, known to patients by the brand name Contrave, helped 55 per cent of obese and overweight people lose five per cent body weight in 12 months – an average of 11lbs
Phentermine/topiramate, marketed as Qsymia (left) helped 75 per cent of patients lose five per cent body weight – an average of 19.4lbs – making it the most effective of the five drugs.Meanwhile, lorcaserin, marketed as Belviq helped 49 per cent of people lose five per cent body weight – an average of 7.1lbs
All the drugs were found to help promote significant weight loss over the course of a year:
- phentermine-topiramate – 19.4lbs
- liraglutide – 11.7lbs
- naltrexone-bupropion – 11lbs
- lorcaserin – 7.1lbs
- orlistat – 5.7lbs
When researchers compared liraglutide and naltrexone-bupropion with placebo, they found the drugs were linked to the highest odds of adverse side effects and discontinuation of treatment.
The authors write in the June 14 issue of JAMA: ‘Ultimately, given the differences in safety, efficacy, and response to therapy, the ideal approach to weight loss should be highly individualized, identifying appropriate candidates for buy meth online pharmacotherapy, behavioral interventions, and surgical interventions.
‘Historically, concerns regarding the long-term safety profile of pharmacotherapy for weight loss have limited their clinical use, particularly among medications with significant adrenergic actions or central appetite-suppressing actions.
‘Short-term clinical trials may not provide comprehensive information on the long-term safety of these agents, and prospective postmarketing surveillance studies are warranted.’