diet pills

In a surprise move Tuesday, the FDA rejected Orexigen's proposed new diet drug Contrave, saying the company needed to run another study of its cardiovascular risks. With this rejection, all three of a slate of similar diet drugs from competing pharmaceuticals have been turned back by the agency.

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected two other weight-loss pills earlier this year, an advisory panel has recommended the approval of Orexigen Therapeutics's Contrave. If the FDA follows the recommendation, Contrave could become the first diet drug to win approval in a decade.

Vivus shares are soaring this morning, even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected the drugmaker's obesity drug Qnexa yesterday. Investors are hoping that the FDA's rejection, which includes a request for more safety data -- not another clinical trial -- will lead to approval next year.

Drug and medical-device maker Abbott Laboratories announced Friday that it will voluntarily withdraw its controversial obesity drug Meridia, (sibutramine) from the U.S. market at the request of the FDA, due to concerns it increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Orexigen jumped over 25% in premarket trading after announcing an exclusive partnership agreement potentially worth over $1 billion with Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical to develop and commercialize Contrave, Orexigen's promising obesity drug.

The New England Journal of Medicine called Meridia "another flawed diet pill" -- two weeks before government advisers are scheduled to review the drug -- after a study finds it raises the risk of heart attack and stroke in users with heart problems.

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...

MSNBC took a look into the effectiveness of diet pills recently and found that, on their own, diet pills won't make you thin. Despite the reality that diet pills aren't magic bullets, the drug industry is set to roll out almost 15 new diet pills in the next few years! Many experts agree that diet...