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Lorcaserin

July 15, 2010 by · Comments Off on Lorcaserin 

LorcaserinLorcaserin:ATLANTA (CBS / AP) The man has sought a piece of fat, probably almost as long as the search for the fountain of youth. So far, nobody has done it without unpleasant side effects.

Now comes lorcaserin, an experimental diet pill, which is showing promise in clinical trials. Weight loss is not huge, but for now, the problem does not seem very good.

A study funded by pharmaceutical companies than 3,100 overweight or obese people found that half of those taking lorcaserin for a year lost five percent or more of their body weight. Placebos taking only half faired well.

Equally important, most people kept taking the blue pill, weight uploads.

That is good news for dieters and even better news for the pharmaceutical arena, the company that manufactures the drug.

But is it safe?

With the exception of headaches and dizziness, side effects were essentially no worse than placebo, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine Thursday. There was no increased rate of cardiovascular problems, blood pressure or cholesterol levels.

That’s a great thing. In 1997, the government took the popular “fen-phen pill from the market after being linked to problems with heart valves.

Lorcaserin works similarly to “fen-phen,” but it appears to do in a safe manner.

Lorcaserin experts predict will eventually be approved by the FDA.

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