CardioExchange Archive

July 18th, 2012

FDA Approves Another New Weight Loss Drug

Larry Husten, PHD

The US FDA approved on Tuesday a new weight loss drug that will be called Qsymia, the brand name for the combination of two previously approved drugs, phentermine and extended-release topiramate. The drug is manufactured by Vivus, Inc. In a press release, the FDA said Qsymia had been approved for use in obese adults (BMI of 30 or […]

---

September 22nd, 2011

Diet Drugs Get a New Slim Chance at Approval

Larry Husten, PHD

Contrave, the investigational diet pill combination of naltrexone and bupropion, has been granted a possible new lease on life by the FDA. In January of this year, the FDA issued a complete response letter to Orexigen, the drug’s sponsor. Now Orexigen says that it has received guidance from the FDA that could lead to approval of the […]

---

April 11th, 2011

Phentermine-Topiramate Combination Yields Significant Weight Loss

Larry Husten, PHD

The experimental diet drug combination of phentermine and topiramate demonstrated “robust efficacy” in  CONQUER, a large new trial published online in the Lancet. The trial’s results come after a year in which the FDA turned down three investigational diet drugs (including Qnexa, the phentermine-topiramate combination used here) and removed the diet drug sibutramine from the […]

---