In Scientific American an article by Heidi Ledford discusses approval of a drug for obesity. An new drug Contrave, was the first obesity drug to win a recommendation for approval in more than a decade. It has been a difficult task to develop a safe drug for obesity. The goal of these drugs is to block receptor in the brain that respond to appetite, but adverse reaction such as suicidal tendencies are feared.
Contrave, developed by Orexigen Therapeutics, based in La Jolla, California, and co-founded by Cowley, director of the Monash Obesity and Diabetes Institute in Victoria, Australia, is a combination of two medications. One is an anti-depressant, the other is used to treat alcoholism. Together it is said that they boost the activity of a brain circuit called POMC pathway, which reduces hunger. The final decision on approval is expected early next year.
Studies have shown that even with this drug only a 8 percent decrease in body weight was reported after 6 months. It says that the next drug that is likely to face the FDA will target metabolism.
In my opinion, there should not be any drug for obesity. It seems that there is a drug prescribed for everything these days, I think the risks are to great to use unless there are no alternatives. Our society needs to change if obesity rates are to decline. I recently read that the food additives used today are actually designed to addict us to them, obviously attributing to obesity. It seems all food in the market is bad for you in some way. The FDA needs to change what food is readily available to our society and people need to make healthier choices.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=slim-spoils-for-obesity-drugs:
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I agree with you, to many people today really on medication to take care of everything. Better health habits and exercise are probably better choices than taking a pill to treat obesity. If the person doesn't change those bad habits will they continually have to take higher dosages of the pill if they build up a tolerance or eat worse because they just rely on the medication to help them lose weight?
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