Drugs to treat obesity under review this week by the food and drug administration. The F-D-A may vote to recommend a *new* drug to fight obesity.
And it may vote to yank another one entirely off the market. When a healthy diet and exercise aren't enough to reach weight-loss goals -- millions of Americans turn to medication. But one obesity drug -- Meridia -- has been linked to higher rates of heart attacks and strokes in patients with heart disease.
“A lot of times people who are overweight may have unrecognized hypertension or heart disease maybe if they don't go to the doctor regularly," said Dr. Leena Khaitan, with Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Today, an F-D-A panel of experts will weigh Meridia's risks and benefits...and discuss whether it should stay on the market or be pulled.
On Thursday – F-D-A advisors will consider whether an experimental drug called Lorcaserin should be placed on the market. Researchers say it had few side effects in clinical trials -- where patients lost an average of 17 pounds over a year. And researchers say it improved health in other ways.
