Content about Anti-obesity medication

SILVER SPRING, Md. — U.S. marshals, acting on behalf of the Food and Drug Administration, on Thursday seized tainted products from Globe All Wellness in Hollywood, Fla. The products may be unsafe because they contain an undisclosed active pharmaceutical ingredient.

ST. LOUIS — Price inflation for the most commonly used branded drugs has been more than six times that of overall inflation for consumer goods since September 2011, according to a new report by pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Drug maker Vivus has released what it called the first new drug in 13 years for chronic weight management in adults.

The company announced the availability of Qsymia (phentermine and topiramate) extended-release capsules, which it is formally introducing to medical professionals this week at the Obesity Society's annual scientific meeting in San Antonio.

PITTSBURGH — GlaxoSmithKline on Monday issued an email blast to registrants of its MyAlli.com site that Alli will be making its way back to store shelves later this month.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — A panel of experts at the Food and Drug Administration has recommended approval for an obesity drug that so far had not met much success at the agency.

Vivus announced Wednesday that the FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 20-2 in favor of approving Qnexa (phentermine and topiramate) for obesity in adults. The FDA is not bound by advisory committee votes when it decides whether or not to approve a drug, but usually follows them.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Obese diabetes patients could experience weight loss when taking Vivus' anti-obesity drug, according to an oral presentation at the International Diabetes Federation's World Diabetes Congress in Dubai.

SAN DIEGO — Drug maker Orexigen Therapeutics said it had identified a "clear and feasible path" for the approval of its drug for treating obesity by working with the Food and Drug Administration.

SAN DIEGO — Use of a drug for Type 2 diabetes made by Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals may lower patients’ risk of heart failure, according to a new study.

The study of more than 778,000 patients taking the injected drug Byetta (exenatide) found that adding the drug to a pre-existing diabetes regimen, especially if that regimen included insulin, was associated with reduced likelihood of heart failure. Results were presented Saturday at the 71st Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO — Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceutical have suspended a mid-stage trial of an obesity drug over safety concerns, the two said Wednesday.

The drug makers stopped the phase-2 trial of a combination of pramlintide and metreleptin due to problems that arose in two patients related to metreleptin. Amylin said the decision to suspend the trial did not affect its investigations of metreleptin as a treatment of diabetes and hypertriglyceridemia in patients with lipodystrophy.

SAN DIEGO — A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee has recommended approval for an investigational diet pill.

Orexigen Therapeutics and Takeda Pharmaceutical announced Tuesday that the FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 13-7 that clinical trial data demonstrated that the benefits of the drug Contrave (naltrexone and bupropion) outweighed its risk and supported approval. The committee also voted 11-8 to recommend a study to examine Contrave’s effect on risk for cardiac disease.

SILVER SPRING, Md. Clinical trial data indicating an increased risk of heart attack and stroke has led to the removal from the market of an obesity drug made by Abbott, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

The FDA said the drug maker voluntarily withdrew the drug Meridia (sibutramine) following a required post-marketing trial showing that the drug increased by 16% the risk of nonfatal heart attacks and strokes, the need for resuscitation after the heart stopped and death.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine's small-business technology transfer program, part of the National Institutes of Health, has given a researcher and a drug maker a grant to develop drugs for obesity and metabolic syndrome in women.