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Pfizer’s
twice-daily
version
of
its
experimental
weight
loss
pill
has
now
joined
a
long
list
of
other
scrapped
drugs
that
aimed
to
treat
obesity
but
came
with
unintended
consequences.
The
drugmaker
on
Friday
said
it
will
stop
developing
the
twice-daily
treatment,
danuglipron,
after
obese
patients
taking
the
drug
lost
significant
weight
but
experienced
high
rates
of
adverse
side
effects
in
a
midstage
clinical
trial.
Pfizer
noted
that
it
will
release
data
on
a
once-daily
version
of
the
pill
next
year,
which
will
“inform
the
path
forward.”
The
announcement
came
six
months
after
Pfizer
scrapped
a
different
once-daily
pill
in
June,
citing
elevated
liver
enzymes.
Pfizer’s
move
to
drop
two
obesity
drug
candidates
in
just
a
few
months
demonstrates
how
difficult
it
is
to
develop
an
effective,
safe
and
tolerable
treatment
for
losing
weight,
even
after
recent
breakthrough
medications
entered
the
space.
That
includes
Novo
Nordisk‘s
Wegovy
and
diabetes
treatment
Ozempic
as
well
as
Eli
Lilly‘s
diabetes
drug
Mounjaro.
They
have
all
skyrocketed
in
popularity
—
and
slipped
into
shortages
—
over
the
last
year
for
safely
and
successfully
causing
significant
weight
loss.
An
estimated
40%
of
U.S.
adults
are
obese,
making
those
drugs
the
pharmaceutical
industry’s
newest
cash
cow.
But
before
the
current
weight
loss
industry
gold
rush,
the
path
to
treating
obesity
was
strewn
with
failures
dating
back
decades.
The
main
reason
many
experimental
treatments
were
scrapped
by
drugmakers,
rejected
by
U.S.
regulators
or
eventually
pulled
from
the
market
were
unintended
side
effects,
including
elevated
liver
enzymes,
cancer
risks,
cardiovascular
risks
and
serious
psychiatric
problems,
such
as
suicide.
Eisai’s
lorcaserin
One
of
the
most
recent
casualties
among
experimental
obesity
drugs
is
Japanese
drugmaker
Eisai’s
lorcaserin,
which
was
removed
from
the
market
in
2020
due
to
causing
an
increased
risk
of
cancer
in
patients.
The
Food
and
Drug
Administration
greenlit
lorcaserin
in
2012
based
on
several
clinical
trials
but
required
Eisai
to
conduct
a
larger
and
longer
study
on
the
drug
after
the
approval.
That
study
on
about
12,000
patients
over
five
years
found
that
more
people
taking
lorcaserin
were
diagnosed
with
cancer
compared
with
those
taking
a
placebo,
which
led
the
FDA
to
pull
the
drug
from
the
market.
Lorcaserin,
marketed
under
the
brand
name
Belviq,
didn’t
appear
to
gain
much
traction
while
it
was
commercially
available.
In
its
full-year
2019
earnings,
Eisai
reported
that
Lorcaserin
had
sales
of
$28.1
million
in
the
U.S.
for
the
year.
Global
sales
of
the
drug
were
about
$42
million. Eisai’s
total
sales
for
the
year
were
roughly
$4.42
billion.
Sanofi’s
rimonabant
An
obesity
drug
called
rimonabant
from
Sanofi
and
Aventis
was
withdrawn
from
all
markets
in
2008
due
to
the
risk
of
serious
psychiatric
problems,
including
suicide.
Notably,
the
treatment
never
won
approval
in
the
U.S.
because
a
panel
of
experts
to
the
FDA
rejected
the
drug
amid
fears
that
it
may
cause
suicidal
thoughts.
But
European
regulators
approved
rimonabant,
marketed
under
the
name
Acomplia,
in
2006
based
on
extensive
clinical
trials.
Two
years
later,
European
regulators
recommended
the
suspension
of
rimonabant
after
one
of
its
committees
determined
that
the
risks
of
the
treatment
—
particularly
psychiatric
issues
—
outweighed
its
benefits.
The
treatment
suppressed
appetite
by
blocking
the
receptor
of
cannabinoid
substances
in
the
brain,
which
plays
an
important
role
in
regulating
the
body’s
food
intake
and
metabolism.
Due
to
rimonabant’s
limited
time
on
the
market
and
failure
to
win
U.S.
approval,
the
drug
never
reached
Sanofi’s
lofty
projection
that
it
would
eventually
generate
$3
billion
a
year
or
more.
Abbott
Laboratories’
sibutramine
Several
obesity
drugs
have
also
been
discontinued,
rejected
or
pulled
from
the
market
due
to
unintended
cardiovascular
risks.
That
includes
sibutramine
from
Abbott
Laboratories,
which
was
once
widely
used
as
a
treatment
for
obesity
along
with
diet
and
exercise.
The
drug
was
first
approved
in
1997,
but
carried
warnings
about
high
blood
pressure
and
a
risk
of
heart
attack
and
stroke
in
cardiovascular
patients.
A
large,
long-term
trial
on
nearly
10,000
adults
confirmed
that
sibutramine
was
associated
with
a
significant
increase
in
cardiovascular
events,
which
prompted
regulators
in
the
U.S.
and
Europe
to
pull
the
drug
from
those
markets
in
2010.
Sales
of
sibutramine
had
been
dwindling
ahead
of
its
removal
from
the
market.
The
drug
raked
in
only
$80
million
globally,
including
$20
million
from
the
U.S.,
in
the
first
nine
months
of
2010.
Recent
evidence
suggests
that
the
newest
slate
of
approved
weight
loss
drugs
may
have
the
opposite
effect
on
heart
health:
Weekly
injections
of
Wegovy
slashed
the
overall
risk
of
heart
attack,
stroke
and
death
from
cardiovascular
causes
by
20%,
according
to
a
recent
clinical
trial.
