Anti-obesity agents

Should community pharmacies be offering injectable weight loss drugs?

As community pharmacies prepare to start providing the new weight loss drug Wegovy, we take a closer look at whether they are the right setting for people with obesity to access this medicine.…

Weight loss drug semaglutide will ‘soon’ be available to eligible patients, says NICE

Trial results showed that participants taking semaglutide lost an average of 12% more of their body weight compared with placebo.…

Appetite suppressant approved by NICE for patients with obesity

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that semaglutide should be considered in adults with at least one weight-related condition and a body mass index of at least 35.…

Shifting the scales: a promising new era for weight-loss drugs

With obesity rates continuing to rise, the need for pharmacological options to help patients safely lose weight is urgent, but there are several promising drugs on the horizon.…

Orlistat side effects were underreported, study shows

Adverse effects that occurred during clinical trials of Roche’s obesity drug orlistat in the 1990s appear to have been substantially underreported in both published papers and summarised clinical study reports submitted to the European Medicines Agency for drug approval, an analysis has found.…

Bitter plant extract suppresses appetite

A non-nutritive plant-based ingredient called Amarasate extract is effective in suppressing appetite, study finds.…

Obesity drugs show weight loss effect after one year

Five drugs approved in the United States for the treatment of obese or overweight adults have been associated with at least a 5% drop in weight after a year, a meta-analysis has shown. …

Cardiovascular safety of naltrexone-bupropion combination remains uncertain after termination of trial

Researchers have highlighted the importance of data confidentiality during clinical trials after they were forced to abandon their study when interim findings were made public.…

Review of 2015: ten developments that are changing pharmacy

The pharmacy landscape continues to shift amid a backdrop of austere UK public spending and the rising spectre of centralised dispensing in the community. The Pharmaceutical Journal presents ten developments that affected pharmacists in 2015.…

Second clinical trial death puts the future of obesity drug in doubt

The US Food and Drug Administration has given the pharmaceutical company Zafgen a verbal notice that its investigational new drug application for beloranib has been put on complete clinical hold after the death of a patient during a phase III clinical trial.…