Some common weight loss drugs may be more effective than others, according to a new study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved five drugs for long-term weight loss. Siddharth Singh, MD, of the University of California in San Diego, recently performed 28 randomized clinical trials to test the effectiveness of these five drugs. The study included over 29,000 participants with a median weight of 222 pounds and a median body mass index of 36.1.
Dr. Singh and his team tracked the patients' weight loss efforts for at least a year. They found that patients lost varying amounts of weight on different drugs and stood a better chance of losing a significant amount of weight — more than five pounds — on some drugs more than others.
Here are the study's findings:
- Phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia) — 75 percent weight loss and 19.4 more pounds lost than placebo.
- Liraglutide (Saxenda) — 63 percent weight loss and 11.7 more pounds lost than placebo.
- Naltrexone-bupropion (Contrave) — 55 percent weight loss and 11 more pounds lost than placebo.
- Lorcaserin (Belviq) — 49 percent weight loss and 7.1 more pounds lost than placebo.
- Orlistat (Xenical) — 44 percent weight loss and 5.7 more pounds lost than placebo.
- Placebo — 5 percent weight loss and 3 to 5 pounds lost
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