Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Suspense builds on anti-obesity rollercoaster ride

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 10, pages 5–6 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Despite high safety hurdles and a history of failure in the field, some drug firms remain cautiously optimistic for the next wave of experimental anti-obesity agents.

Excitement started to mount when companies — Vivus, Arena Pharmaceuticals and Orexigen Therapeutics/Takeda — submitted drugs to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late 2009 and early 2010. However, the withdrawal of Abbott's anti-obesity drug (sibutramine/Meridia) in both the European Union and the United States over cardiovascular concerns showed that the safety of such agents remained paramount. Hopes fell further when the FDA rejected the initial regulatory applications for both Vivus's combination product Qnexa (phentermine plus topiramate) and Arena's lorcaserin in October, following negative recommendations by FDA advisory panels. All eyes turned to the 7 December panel meeting on Orexigen/Takeda's Contrave (bupropion plus naltrexone), amid concerns that a negative vote would cast a dark shadow over the entire field.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Authors
  1. Dan Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jones, D. Suspense builds on anti-obesity rollercoaster ride. Nat Rev Drug Discov 10, 5–6 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd3353

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd3353

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research