The FDA has approved Qsymia for use today by those who are obese, with a BMI of 30 or more, or for those who have a BMI of 27 with weight related illness.

The history of weight loss pills has been fraught with law suits due to life threatening side affects and prescription abuse by physicians and patients.

The major problem with weight loss drugs is that they don’t address the underlying causes of weight gain such as the psychological component of over eating and the food itself.

There is wide ranging debate regarding the way certain processed and scientifically engineered foodstuffs react with human physiology and metabolism.

Until we confront these two major issues surrounding food it will be difficult to solve America’s obesity epidemic with a pill.

“Given the literally insatiable appetite of doctors and patients for new drugs as a quick fix for obesity, there is every reason to believe that, if approved, a combination like this, will be used by millions, over long periods of time far beyond its labeling indications. Because of a long list of safety reasons, this drug should not be approved,” the group’s Dr. Sidney Wolfe told the FDA advisory panel in 2010.
Vivus, the company that makes Qsymia, hopes it will be a safer successor to the notorious and now banned “fen-phen” diet cocktail. Fen-phen combined fenfluramine and phentermine — one of the two drugs in Qsymia — but it damaged the heart in some cases and caused a condition in some patients called pulmonary hypertension, which causes fluid to build up in the chest, bringing a feeling of breathlessness.

It has been 13 years since the FDA has approved a new drug for weight loss.

Belviq, the Arena Pharmaceuticals drug which also goes by the generic name lorcaserin, is one of three new potential weight-loss treatments to be approved.

The drug works by activating a receptor in the brain that may help a person eat less and feel full after eating smaller amounts of food.
It is approved for use in obese adults with a body mass index or BMI of 30 or greater and in overweight adults with a BMI of 27 or greater if they have at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol. For example, a 5-foot-7 woman who weighed 192 pounds would have a BMI of 30.

Patients who do not lose 5 percent of their body weight within 12 weeks of taking the pill will be advised to discontinue use of the drug.

It is important that patients achieve “clinically meaningful weight loss” as cardiovascular risks including heart attack and stroke may be a consideration.

The advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration voted 20 to 2 to recommend approval of Qnexa, a “new” obesity drug that is simply the combination of two older medications, phentermine (the “phen” of phen-fen”) and topiramate (Topamax).

The old diet drug (phentermine), combined with an older anti-seizure medication (Topamax) have concerning side effects, including increased heart rate, heart attacks, and birth defects such as cleft lip.

Every year the average American consumes 24 pounds of French fries, 23 pounds of pizza, 24 pounds of ice cream, 53 gallons of soda (or a gallon each week), 24 pounds of artificial sweeteners, 2.7 pounds of salt, 90,700 mg of caffeine, and about 2,700 calories a day.

Does a pill really address this behavior?

By 2020, over 50% of the US adult population will have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, with annual costs approaching $500 billion. By 2030, total annual economic costs of cardiovascular disease in the US are predicted to exceed $1 trillion. By 2030, globally we will spend $47 trillion; yes trillion, to address the effects of chronic lifestyle-driven disease.

Prescription medication for lifestyle disease has failed to bend the obesity and disease curve. Statins have been recently found to increase the risk of diabetes in women by 48%. And large data reviews by independent international scientists from the Cochrane Collaborative found that statins only work to prevent second heart attacks, not first heart attacks, which means they are not helpful and most likely harmful for 75% of those who take them.

Medication and surgery are not the answer to the growing obesity epidemic.

Lifestyle change is the safest, cost effective and most efficient way to address this national crisis.