Developers advancing a new slate of weight loss drugs

By John Carroll


The Wall Street Journal reviews the slate of mid-stage therapies in clinical trials for obesity. While the market for new therapies is huge, the challenges involved in developing a therapy that's safe, effective and free of embarrassing side effects have been vexing for the R&D crowd.

Among the most promising therapies in the pipeline: Novo Nordisk's liraglutide, which triggered weight loss of more than 5 percent in 75 percent of Phase II volunteers; Amylin Pharmaceuticals' combo of pramlintide and metreleptin, which triggered an average weight loss of 12.7 percent in 177 Phase II volunteers; and Arena Pharmaceuticals' lorcaserin, which is going into Phase III.

- read the article from the Wall Street Journal