Diet pills: Vivus, Arena and Orexigen in race to market safe weight-loss drugs
Filed under: Company News, Healthcare, Pfizer, Sanofi Aventis
On NBC's hit series The Biggest Loser, obese contestants must huff and puff through weeks of endless push-ups, sit-ups and treadmill sprints in hopes of shedding more pounds than their rivals. But with all the sweat and tears required to go from fat to fabulous, many other plus-sized people are holding out for a safe diet pill that could get the same jaw-dropping results without all the effort.
Now, there may finally be some real options on the horizon. Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) said Tuesday a late-stage trial of lorcaserin shows its experimental obesity drug improves patients' body composition such as body mass index and waist circumference. Meanwhile, rivals Vivus (VVUS) and Orexigen Therapeutics (OREX) are developing similar drugs. All three are racing to be the first to provide a safe drug that really works in a market potentially worth billions of dollars.
As far as lorcaserin is concerned, the study results indicated the drug improved cardiovascular risk factors such as cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as quality of life factors such as physical function, self esteem and sexual enjoyment. The company now believes the data leaves Arena on track to file for regulatory approval late this year. And according to Reuters, Arena CEO Jack Lief said the company is in discussions with potential partners.
This study adds to earlier findings that 47.2 percent of subjects taking lorcaserin twice a day achieved at least a 5 percent reduction in weight -- a key threshold -- after a year. Only 25 percent of patients who took a placebo achieved the same weight loss. The study involved 4,008 patients.
More specifically, of those who completed the treatment, 63.2 percent lost at least 5 percent of their weight, compared to 34.9 percent of patients on a placebo. And 35.1 percent of these lorcaserin patients lost at least 10 percent of their weight, compared to 16.1 percent for placebo.
Obesity is one of the nation's most serious public health problems. According to the National Institutes of Health, 65 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese. The economic costs associated with obesity are significant, too, with the nation's annual medical burden from the condition estimated at $147 billion in 2008, according to a recent report in Health Affairs.
Unquestionably, the market for diet drugs could be very large, which is why analysts believe there may be room for all three companies: Arena, Vivus and Orexigen. Since a 5 percent to 10 percent decrease in weight can be medically significant, there's bound to be demand for the drugs. What's more, each drug is designed to appeal to a specific group of patients.
The drugs belonging to Arena's rivals achieved better weight-loss results. For example, Vivus' Qnexa reduced patients' weight by up to 14.7 percent (with the full dose), on average.
Arena is differentiating itself by trying to position lorcaserin as the safest of the drugs. While the other two drugs use phentermine which is know to increase blood pressure, Arena's drugs sometimes even decreased it, as Lief told Xconomy'sOf course, all three experimental drugs will have to overcome the lingering stigma of Wyeth's (WYE) fen-phen diet pill fiasco when officials linked the drug to heart-valve damage. Other attempts to develop such a drug by Sanofi Aventis (SNY), Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) failed because the candidates had serious side effects.
Lorcaserin is a new drug that actually works in a way similar to fenfluramine, part of the fen-phen combo, but is much more selective in the receptors it affects. The company said lorcaserin was not associated with heart-valve problems. It is designed to block appetite signals in the brain by stimulating the serotonin 2C receptor.
Arena said its trial found that lorcaserin helped reduce patients' cardiovascular risk factors without increasing blood pressure or heart rate. As for the side effects, the most common ones were headache, nausea and fatigue.
Vivus' drug is also a combo therapy that mixes the other generic drug in the fen-phen combo, phentermine, with the generic topiramate, sold as Topamax by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ
Orexigen also released drug trial data for Contrave on Tuesday. The data showed that approximately 25 percent to 33 percent of patients lost 10 percent or more of their body weight and 12 percent to 16 percent lost at least 15 percent. Orexigen might also market its drug as reducing blood sugar levels.
For now, it seems that Vivus' drug wins in the weight-loss department. Meanwhile, if you ask Arena, it will say its drug's safety profile is the best. Perhaps there could be room for other, less aggressive, treatments in the market, depending on the patient. The pressure's on, though. At least half a dozen other companies are also in earlier stages of developing weight-loss drugs.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
10-28-2009 @ 3:23PM
JACK MAHOGOFF said...
IF TRUE...SHOULD BE REQUIRED FOR 80% OF AMERICA !! A COUNTRY FULL OF LOUD MOUTH, BRAIN DEAD, FATTIES !!!
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 4:06PM
Dr. Bill Conklin said...
Listen Jerk! I'll put my IQ up against your red neck ass any day! Quit being an insensitive moron and grow up.
10-28-2009 @ 5:31PM
junior said...
Just push your fat asses away from the table. Don't need no damn pill for that.
10-29-2009 @ 7:02AM
Willis Fraley said...
My man you need some re-education about us fatties, about 6 yrs ago I weighed 167lbs and had a surgery that almost killed me due to staff and oeteo infection and comes with that is a rare disease called Reflex Sympathetic Dsytrophy and its like 1 in 7 million men that might get this and I did and I have put on over 200 lbs in 14 months and I coudnt do nothing about it but die?? It killed my pancreas(now insulin diabetic) my thyroid and part of the hypothalmus in my brain all that control body metabolism and I am not a big eater and I have been
turned down 4 times for the biariac surgery because I dont eat that much and would starve to death if i had it. What to do .I have lost over 100 lb in 8 months due to my disease going into some kind of remission and no surgerys and eat properly but all of us fatties are not by choice and I dont think any fat people choose to be this way I didnt- I am a US ARMY Combat medic-Viet-nam Era Vet and a Physical Therapist so dont judge us until you know our story- GOD Bless
10-28-2009 @ 4:01PM
Mr.T said...
These pills will be a part of the Obamacare package funded by the taxpayers because its a fast track way of losing weight ......just like the fast track health care plan that will be pushed on us by the liberal morons of Washington...... Take a pill, dont read the Bill just pass it...... its all easy when you have no mind and a government that tells you what you need. ............. Dont exercise.... that might be too healthy a plan......even though it takes longer with better results......
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 4:03PM
Dr. Bill Conklin said...
I remember "fen-fen". I just started taking it when they took it off the market. I still think they over-reacted to it all. That was they only thing I EVER tried that made it easy to lose weight. I felt good, slept good, had no problem eating less and healthier..it was wonderful. I'd go to a foreign country to this very day if I could get it!
Good luck with these new entries! How long will it take some moronic scientist to say someone had a heart attack after using it...OF COURSE THEY DID...WE ARE FAT AND THOSE THINGS HAPPEN!
Bring 'em on!
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10-28-2009 @ 4:48PM
lizbeth andrews said...
Sometimes things happen for a reason the combined drugs were dangerous. I say this because my cousin was diagnosed with heart vavle problems after she took fen fen. She was about 34 then she dropped dead 3 months ago of a massive heart attack due to those drugs. S he was 52.
10-28-2009 @ 10:35PM
Sarah said...
They actually have something close to it you can buy online from sisterspharmacy.com it's called phentermine. I took it a while ago it worked, but it was too pricey for me.
10-28-2009 @ 4:03PM
Dan said...
eating fruits vegetables, nuts, and lean meats and 100% whole wheat bread in moderation, with exercise would work for 95% of the population, wouldn't you think?
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 6:27PM
bo diddly said...
pills, pills I like pills
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 5:21PM
hazelton said...
When, when? All I want to know is "when"!!!!!!
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 5:45PM
Angiebaby said...
There are already effective diet pills on the market. But the FDA doesn't want us to have effective, affordable pills, which act as stimulants (Speed). All drug companies would have to do is lower the dosage in the pills so they don't cause the complications they can at full strenth. These could be obtained by prescription for a fraction of the cost of new "safe & effective" diet pills with catchy names.
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10-28-2009 @ 6:35PM
Brad said...
Would be a lot better if the fat people would stop shoving so much food into their pieholes and do some exercising. But the lazy fat slobs don't want to have to sweat to lose the weight. It's not like it should be that difficult to eat less and exercise.
Personally, let the fat people die from heart attacks or some other fat related problem. It's not like I, and most other people, even like looking at these fat pieces of chit.
Reply
10-29-2009 @ 7:42PM
Kevin said...
You are a moron in the most agressive form! People like you always say degrading things because your hiding behind an email address. It's a pretty good bet you wouldn't say any of these things to people in person because you would surely be put in your place! I have to admit you are pretty entertaining though!
10-28-2009 @ 6:38PM
iamannatude said...
IT IS ABOUT TIME!!!!
You can get help if you are:
Drug Addicted
Alcohol Addicted
Mentally Sick
( This one is right up Jack Mahogoff's alley)
Severe Health Issues
BUT!!!!
When it comes to obesity, which, by it's very nature, causes additional and potentially deadly illnesses, is the ONLY illness that is NOT recognized as a legitimate 'disease'.
And it IS an illness. NOT A PERSONAL CHOICE!!!
I would rather look to FOOD for comfort than METH or hide in a closet with ALCOHOL as my companion.
Ok, look at it THIS way:
When you are drug addicted, you can get on medication to help and STAY AWAY from them.
When you are alcohol addicted, (again) ,you can take medication to help and STAY AWAY from bars/liquor stores.
THEN! There is food addiction!
Or so they call it.
You don't 'have' to have drugs or alcohol for your very survival. You don't NEED to get HIGH to LIVE!. You don't NEED to get DRUNK to LIVE!
HOWEVER!!!
YOU DO NEED TO EAT TO LIVE!!!
P.S.: To JACK MAHOGOFF:
I might be fat but you are just UGLY, and I can lose weight! Sorry, dude, still no cure in sight for STUPIDITY.
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 6:51PM
catherine said...
To all the immature posters speaking to someones ability to "push away" from the table, shoving food into their "pieholes"or being fat slobs, it would be just as easy for you all to put down the keyboard, backspace out of the article, or seek treatment for whats commonly known as asswipe'itis.
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 7:02PM
gena said...
"asswipe'itis"....FINALLY a diagnosis! I love it!
10-28-2009 @ 7:55PM
imcrazyriter said...
What about Alli? Remember when it came out and they PROMISED it really worked! And people fell for it. Millions of dollars down the drain. Just like the trillions of dollars that are going down the drain with the Obama Administration! We The People should be smarter than this!!!
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 10:44PM
Sarah said...
OK I'm on alli now and I have lost 15 pounds in the 2 months I have been taking it. It doesn't claim to be a miracle cure-all! It states blatantly that it will help you loose extra weight while you are ALREADY ON A DIET. There will never be a miracle sit on your ass and eat pizza diet, (though I keep looking!) so we are stuck with the boring old diet and excercise.
10-29-2009 @ 6:06AM
caden401 said...
Why in the hell are all the drug companies competing for a weight loss pill, when all all of that money could go to researching a cure for AIDS, childhood cancer, or any cancer for that matter, or a various other more prolific deadly diseases than obesity? Granted, obesity is a disease, but this pill will be abused by people who are not obese. I think it's all in the money as usual for drug companies.
Reply