Why are some physicians bashing a weight loss [Slimming coffee]
But what if there were a medication that was well tolerated and actually helped the average person taking it lose a medically significant amount of weight? While I'm quite certain I wouldn't use it with each and every patient, certainly if I had a patient who wanted to try it, or a patient where their best efforts weren't affording them further weight loss and the risk or impact of their weight was still significantly greater than the risk or negative impact of the medication, damn right I'd suggest it. Why wouldn't I? That's what doctors do - if there's a therapy where the risks of inaction outweigh the risks of treatment, we discuss treatment.
Now, there's something to be said about not trying brand spanking new drugs. Many doctors, myself included, often like to wait for a while once a drug's been released so that if there was a risk or a side effect that the limited sample sizes of Phase 3 clinical trials weren't powerful enough to reveal, we'd learn about it. That caution isn't what I want to chat with you about today. But first, some brief background.
Qnexa is a new weight loss drug that an FDA advisory committee has recently overwhelming recommended be approved for use. It's a combination drug that combines a known weight loss medication (phentermine), with a known anti-seizure medication (topiramate). The doses of the drugs used in Qnexa are relatively low compared to their regular usage separately, and perhaps that's why only 16% of the folks prescribed the top dose of Qnexa withdrew from the more than year long study due to adverse effects. As far as weight loss goes, the drug's impressive with an average weight loss of 14.4% of presenting body weight lost by week 56 in one study and 16% in another.
Yes, weight can and does respond to lifestyle changes, but statistically speaking, usually only temporarily. And really, so what? Pretty much everything responds to lifestyle changes including hypertension, diabetes, depression, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, hyperlipidemia, esophageal reflux, etc., and yet I've never heard a physician suggest it'd be unfortunate if the FDA would approve a new blood pressure medication because upping exercise, losing weight and reducing sodium might do the trick, or because we don't yet know what the impact might be of taking it for a lifetime. And yet that's exactly what Harvard's Dr. Pieter Cohen said about Qnexa,
Now, there's something to be said about not trying brand spanking new drugs. Many doctors, myself included, often like to wait for a while once a drug's been released so that if there was a risk or a side effect that the limited sample sizes of Phase 3 clinical trials weren't powerful enough to reveal, we'd learn about it. That caution isn't what I want to chat with you about today. But first, some brief background.
Qnexa is a new weight loss drug that an FDA advisory committee has recently overwhelming recommended be approved for use. It's a combination drug that combines a known weight loss medication (phentermine), with a known anti-seizure medication (topiramate). The doses of the drugs used in Qnexa are relatively low compared to their regular usage separately, and perhaps that's why only 16% of the folks prescribed the top dose of Qnexa withdrew from the more than year long study due to adverse effects. As far as weight loss goes, the drug's impressive with an average weight loss of 14.4% of presenting body weight lost by week 56 in one study and 16% in another.
Yes, weight can and does respond to lifestyle changes, but statistically speaking, usually only temporarily. And really, so what? Pretty much everything responds to lifestyle changes including hypertension, diabetes, depression, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, hyperlipidemia, esophageal reflux, etc., and yet I've never heard a physician suggest it'd be unfortunate if the FDA would approve a new blood pressure medication because upping exercise, losing weight and reducing sodium might do the trick, or because we don't yet know what the impact might be of taking it for a lifetime. And yet that's exactly what Harvard's Dr. Pieter Cohen said about Qnexa,
2012-03-06 11:43
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