Pharmacotherapy for obesity

The current obesity pandemic imposes a major global disease burden. However, sustained weight loss of between 5 and 10% in the obese confers marked health benefits. Currently available pharmacotherapies, orlistat and sibutramine, can induce weight loss of between 5 and 10% over 2 years or more. However, in these trials, drug induced weight loss tends to be only 2–4 kg greater than that produced by placebo control. Despite this, in the XENDOS trial, the modest placebo-subtract weight loss produced by orlistat (2.8 kg) reduced the incidence of diabetes by over a third. Recent data on the potential anti-obesity drug rimonabant are also reviewed.