Evaluation of Drugs for Treating Obesity
- 1 November 1995
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Wiley in Obesity Research
- Vol. 3 (S4), 425S-434S
- https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1550-8528.1995.tb00209.x
Abstract
Criteria for the evaluation of new drugs to treat obesity are important as guides for designing clinical trials to test these agents. These criteria must be developed in relation to the realities of obesity, which is a chronic disease associated with morbidity and mortality that is increased by visceral fat deposits. The observation that patients regain weight after stopping drug treatment for obesity argues for the proposition that drugs work only when taken and NOT that the drugs are ineffective. The analogy between the development of treatments for obesity to those for the treatment of hypertension is used to highlight potential areas for new developments. Several features of an ideal drug for the treatment of obesity are suggested. Criteria for evaluating new drugs include both primary and secondary endpoints. The primary endpoint for an anti‐obesity drug should be weight loss, possibly by category of success. Losses of total body fat or visceral fat might be alternative primary endpoints. Secondary endpoints include reduction in risk factors for associated diseases and improvement in the quality of life. In trials where vigorous placebo designs including highly aggressive behavior modification or very‐low‐calorie diets were used, it may be difficult or impossible to detect a response to a drug.Keywords
This publication has 35 references indexed in Scilit:
- Antiobesity and Antidiabetic β‐agonists: Lessons Learned and Questions to be AnsweredObesity Research, 1994
- Waist circumference and abdominal sagittal diameter: Best simple anthropometric indexes of abdominal visceral adipose tissue accumulation and related cardiovascular risk in men and womenThe American Journal of Cardiology, 1994
- Weight Cycling: A Review of the Animal LiteratureObesity Research, 1993
- Visceral Obesity: A “Civilization Syndrome”Obesity Research, 1993
- Dexfenfluramine in the treatment of severe obesity: a placebo‐controlled investigation of the effects on weight loss, cardiovascular risk factors, food intake and eating behaviourJournal of Internal Medicine, 1992
- Weight loss in obese subjects on a restricted diet given BRL 26830A, a new atypical adrenoceptor agonistBMJ, 1988
- Medical evaluation and treatment of the obese patient with cardiovascular diseaseThe American Journal of Cardiology, 1987
- Relation of weight change to changes in atherogenic traits: The Framingham studyJournal of Chronic Diseases, 1974
- Long-term use of diethylpropion in obesityCurrent Medical Research and Opinion, 1973
- Comparison of continuous and intermittent anorectic therapy in obesity.BMJ, 1968