New obesity pill twice as effective as existing medication

Written By:  Abbie Smith

Two drugs, Phentermine and topiramate, otherwise known as Topamax, were combined together to make a new anti-obesity drug.

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Phentermine is the most widely-prescribed drug in the US for short-term weight loss, while Topamax is an anti-convulsion medication, used to treat seizure disorders and migraines. Topamaxn has already shown to contribute to weight loss in obese patients suffering from type-2 diabetes.

Recent clinical trials have found that the new drug was twice as effective as orlistat, which is also known as Xencial or Alli in some countries.

The combination of drugs was also found to have extra health benefits other than weight loss, most notably improved indications of blood pressure and sugar levels.

The study involved three groups of patients and each were given different doses of the drug. One group received a high dose, one group received a low dose while the final group was given a placebo drug.

After 56 weeks of the study, the group taking the lowest dose of the drug had lost on average 8.1kg, while the weight-loss of the group on the high dose was on average 10.2kg. The patients that were taking the placebo drug lost only 1.4kg on average.

In terms of physical side effects, patients on the lowest dose of the tablet didn’t experience any major adverse side effects other than the occasional dry mouth or bout of constipation.

The side effects among the high-dose patients were a bit more severe and this group experienced a higher drop-out rate, due to adverse cognitive and psychiatric reactions.