Lorqess

            I recently discovered that medical researchers have been working on a medical treatment to help combat obesity named Lorqess. This interesting compound has the generic name of lorcaserin hydrochloride which was discovered by a company called Arena Pharmaceuticals. This has to be of great excitement for some because this pill could in fact be very helpful for those who could have it prescribed but as with many medications to treat certain ailments especially obesity, it raises a few eyebrows. I suppose there are always two sides to any story but I truly believe that if taken under a doctor’s supervision that a prescription for weight loss could help to elevate various health problems that obese people often suffer from.

            Lorqess works as an appetite suppressant targeting specific areas of the brain that control ones hunger. It has similar workings to an old drug no longer available due to side effects called Fenfluramine, but unlike it Fenfluramine it has not been shown in clinical tests to cause heart valve disease. In fact, out of a few different prescription diet pills being tested at the moment, Lorqess seemingly has the lowest side effects and by a large margin. On September 16th, 2010 there will be an FDA panel meeting to discuss their concerns and will vote on whether they think it should be approved by the FDA or not. But what Lorqess has shown is that of all the side effects reported in long term tests that only headaches where above a 5% placebo adjusted difference. Its side effects seem remarkably tolerated and low. This could play a big factor in approval or not because judging by other past obesity fighting formulas, safety seems to often be the sticking point.

            Lorqess has proven in year’s worth of testing to be effective and passes the FDA benchmark for a medication to be accepted as an obesity fighting drug based on the weight clinical patients have lost. For this reason, it has many believing it will indeed be admitted but for some the effectiveness is still in question. But it will be up to what the advisory panel in September and ultimately the October 22nd meeting by the FDA to decide if it is passed or not.

            Lorqess is not the only weight loss medication being put before the FDA lately. There are two other proposals for one called Qnexa and the other Contrave. Both of these other medications are actually not new, but just a new pairing being tested of existing medications. Qnexa is a combination of phentermine and topiramate where as Contrave is a mixture of bupropion and naltrexone. Both of these others show better effectiveness in trials against Lorqess but have much greater side effects which could in the end cause their demise.