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Once promising weight-loss Drug that produced encouraging
results in animal studies has failed to deliver in a real-world
trial of humans and will be shelved, the pharmaceutical firm
Merck & Co. announced Tuesday.
The drug, known as MK-0557, was designed to focus on a "hunger-stimulating
factor," which has long been considered a potential target
for anti-obesity therapy. And while the drug was well tolerated
by the 832 obese people who finished the trial, they only
lost an average of 7.5 pounds during the 12-month study, compared
with people taking a placebo who lost an average of 4 pounds.
"People did lose a statistically significant amount of
weight, but not clinically meaningful," said lead researcher
Dr. Steven B. Heymsfield, executive director of clinical sciences
at Merck. "The weight loss was about 3 pounds above the
placebo group, but that has no commercial viability for a
drug company."
In animal experiments, the drug caused significant weight
loss, Heymsfield said. "In humans, the drug also
completely blocked the receptor," he said.
One expert thinks that hoping for a magic weight
loss pills are the wrong approach to weight loss.
"In my view, this trial suggests not that a cocktail
of drugs will be needed, but that for the most part, drugs
are not the right answer at all," said Dr. David L. Katz
Though rare case of obesity may warrant medication as part
of a comprehensive treatment plan, the hope that drugs will
save most of us the trouble of addressing weight control through
lifestyle practices is misplaced, he said.
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