April 13th, 2010

Reports the Wall Street Journal:

A new generation of anti-obesity drugs could hit the market in coming months, the latest attempt in what has proved a difficult medicine to make safe for patients.

Currently, just two anti-obesity drugs are approved for long-term treatment, and medical practitioners say both can cause undesirable side effects in many patients. The three new medications, which have been submitted for approval to the Food and Drug Administration, also can be expected to have side effects for some patients, particularly because treating obesity with drugs involves altering the body’s chemistry. But doctors say different weight-loss medications affect people differently, so having more choices should help them match a patient to a therapy that maximizes weight loss while minimizing side effects.

“Obesity has many causes, and ferreting out what is going to work in individuals requires more options,” said Charles Billington, a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota and medical director of the obesity program at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.

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