Vivus Obesity Drug Cut Weight 10 Percent

Vivus said Wednesday it has seen positive findings from phase 2 studies of its new oral obesity treatment Qnexa.

The company said its placebo-based trial involving 200 patients taking Qnexa showed more than 50 percent of patients taking Qnexa experienced a 10-percent or greater total body weight loss over 24 weeks.

The trial, conducted at Duke University Medical Center, also showed treated patients had a mean weight loss of 25.1 pounds, compared to 4.8 pounds in patients on placebo.

Vivus also said the weight of patients given Qnexa did not plateau by the end of the study.

Qnexa was well-tolerated, with a study completion rate of 92 percent vs. 62 percent for the placebo group, the company said.

Qnexa is being developed as a proprietary pharmaceutical treatment that incorporates the active ingredients from two previously approved products with demonstrated weight loss properties, said Wesley Day, Vivus’ vice president of clinical development. We believe that by combining the activity of each of these compounds, Qnexa simultaneously addresses the two main mechanisms that impact eating behavior.

Those mechanisms are excessive hunger and the inability to feel satisfied, he said.