logo for medical-weight-loss-guide.com
leftimage for medical-weight-loss-guide.com

Weight Loss Drug
(for more on each weight loss drug, see below)


Hand holding pillsWeight loss drugs act as aids in your weight loss plan and can help some people. Although it would be nice, there are no drugs that magically take all the weight off quickly without any effort.
 
In fact, using medicines only gives about a 10 lb weight loss in 1 year, and most patients gain back their weight once they stop using the weight loss medicine. However, the health benefits from weight loss due to diet and exercise might also be applied to the same amount of weight that is lost from using medicines.

All medicines have the risks of side effects. For some people, these risks are too great to ever use certain drugs. They can also be expensive. Most weight loss medication studies only looked at one year. After that, there is not as much scientific data on continued weight loss or side effects. The safer and cheaper strategy of diet and exercise should be tried first. Weight loss drug therapy can be considered if a person’s BMI is more than 30 or more than 27 and the person has certain medical conditions.

Weight loss drug therapy is not a cure for being overweight. Once the medicines are stopped, most people gain back the weight they lost. There may also be a maximum effect for each medicine. Once a certain amount of weight is lost, the drugs may not produce any more weight loss.

Below is a table with the  names of weight loss drugs and a brief word on how they work. The average amounts of weight loss for most of the medicines are given where available. For more information, click on each drug’s name.

Brand NamesGeneric Name Average Weight Loss How It Works
MeridiaSibutramine* 9.8 lbs in 1 year Appetite Suppressant
Alli, XenicalOrlistat* 6.4 lbs in 1 year Decreases Fat Absorption
Adipex, Ionamin, FastinPhentermine*# 7.9 lbs in 6 months Appetite Suppressant
Tenuate, DospanDiethylpropion*# 6.6 lbs in 6 months Appetite Suppressant
ProzacFluoxetine 6.9 lbs in 1 yr Appetite Suppressant
Zoloft Sertaline  - Appetite Suppressant
Paxil, PexevaParoextine-Appetite Supressant
Wellbutrin, Budeprion, Buproban, ZybanBupropion 6.2 lbs in 6 to 12 months Appetite Suppressant
Topamax Topiramate 2.2% to 8% in 6 months to 60 weeks Unknown
Zonegran Zonisamide 11 lbs in 16 weeks Unknown
Glucophage, Fortamet, Glumetza, RiometMetformin4.4 lbs over 2.8 yearsDiabetes medicine
ByettaExenatide3.5 to 6.2 lbs in 30 weeksDiabetes medicine
SymlinPramlintide3 lbs in 1 year or 3.7% in 16 weeksCurbs appetite and holds food in your stomach longer

Note: Only the medicines with the asterisk (*) are FDA approved for weight loss. The medicines with the number sign (#) have the potential for abuse and are only approved for short term use.

From the Medical Weight Loss Blog on Nov 19, 2009:

"Orexigen Therapeutics has a drug called Contrave, and it is actually a combination of two already used drugs. One (naltrexone) is use to help with narcotic addiction and the other (bupropion) is an antidepressant.

Vivus has a product called Qnexa which is a combination of phentermine and topiramate."

Experimental Drugs

Brand NamesGeneric NameAverage Weight LossHow It Works
none yetLorcaserinUp to 18 lbs in 2 yearsAppetite supressant
Acomplia (not available in the US, Canada, or several other countries)Rimonabant10 lbs in 1 yearAppetite suppressant
none yetAICAR & GW1516-Mimics the endurance effects of exercise
none yetTesofensine

22 lbs in 6 months or 4.5%-10.6% depending on the dose

Appetite suppressant and sypmathomimetic

Wooden mortar and pestleWeight Gain

Just like some of the medicines listed above have weight loss as one of their side effects, some drugs may cause weight gain. It is not a good idea to stop any medicine without first talking with your doctor.

Some examples of types of medicines that may cause weight gain are antipsychotics, antidepressants, and some diabetes medicines. You should feel free to talk about this possible side effect with your doctor.


For more information on any weight loss drug or other medicine, you can search for it below. After searching for the drug, select “Patient Education” from the right hand side

Return to Home Page.

It is important you discuss any weight loss or exercise plan with your doctor. Only you and your physician can decide what is best for you. Some people have certain conditions that prevent them from doing all exercises, and goal body weights may be different for different people. You need to discuss all these things with your physician before starting any weight loss or exercise program. In addition, the dosage of any medicine may be different if it is used for weight loss and not its FDA approved indication. You should also discuss this with your doctor.

This article was written by John Vickery, MD.

References

Ann Intern Med 2005;142:525-531
“Overview of therapy for obesity in adults” UpToDate version 15.3
“Drug therapy of Obesity” UpToDate version 15.3
Treatment Guidelines from the Medical Letter 2008;6:23-28

footer for Medical Weight Loss page

Site Build It!
Last updated 01/07/2010