Drug-makers have had little success gaining FDA-approval for diet pills. According to The Economist:
“It has been 13 years since the FDA approved a prescription diet pill. That drug, Roche’s Xenical, has notorious gastrointestinal side-effects. The FDA rejected Vivus’s Qnexa in 2010 over concerns for the safety of pregnant women and the quickening of patients’ heart rates.”
This may soon change…or maybe not:
“A committee advising America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that it approve Vivus’s diet drug, Qnexa. However, the pill’s long-awaited final approval may not come until April, if at all. The announcement mostly served as a reminder of what a struggle it is to turn fat into gold.”
Diet and exercise are the key to losing weight. Pills can make you lose weight, but with what side-effects? Remember that cigarettes are a well-known appetite suppressant, but you don’t see doctors prescribing obese individuals a pack of Marlboros.