Experimental diet pill looks promising

An experimental diet pill weight loss helped about half of those who took it, but it recovered a year later and no heart problems caused by other drugs, a study found.

Lorcaserin, Arena Pharmaceuticals, is one of three drugs that are raising hopes that a new generation of more effective pills to lose weight. One of them will be reviewed on Thursday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, for its acronym in English), and the others they will be later this year.

In the study, lorcaserin caused more people to lose at least 5% of their body weight in a year, more than double that achieved by those taking a placebo.

Most people do not stick to diets and diet pills have side effects or can not be taken for long periods. A critical point came in 1997 when the popular "fen-phen was recalled after being linked to heart valve problems.

But now comes lorcaserin, tablet round blue pill would be the first truly new weight loss in ten years to obtain approval. The drug targets the same path appetite did the fen-phen, but in a more selective and perhaps safer.

The results of a large study funded by the drug company appear on Thursday in the journal New England Journal of Medicine.

The investigation involves more than 3,100 obese or overweight people who took the pill or a placebo.

After a year, nearly 48% of lorcaserin group had a loss of at least 5% of their body weight, on average approximately 5.8 kilograms (13 pounds). Only 20% of the group taking a placebo lost that weight.

Only half the study participants completed the years. This is not unusual, typically many drop out of studies on diet. But there were fewer desertions lorcaserin group than in the placebo, suggesting that side effects were not a problem.

Except for headache and dizziness, essentially no side effects were worse with the drug compared with placebo. There was a higher rate of heart valve problems, which was a critical concern. However, further studies are needed to conclusively rule out this risk.

Arena, located in San Diego, has not put a price to lorcaserin. But it could be especially useful for obese patients with heart failure.

The other two drugs to be evaluated by the FDA are combinations of drugs already on the market.