Is new hope on the horizon for obesity?

摘要

Obesity is a growing and global problem. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the prevalence of obesity, which was established in a telephone survey of 350000 Americans, had increased from 23-2% to 257% between 2005 and 20071 Although prevention is clearly the first strategy to deal with this problem, many people will need some form of treatment. Thus the study on tesofensine by Arne Astrup and colleagues in The Lancet today, a phase II clinical trial with a new agent, is welcome.2 In a 6-month randomised trial, they compared placebo with three doses of drug, while all patients were also on an energy-restricted diet. At the end of the trial, the groups treated with the two highest doses had lost, on average, 11-3 kg and 12-8 kg of baseline weight compared with 2-2 kg in the placebo group (the average proportionate changes from baseline for the drug compared over that of diet and placebo were -9-2% and -10-6%, respectively; the change with diet and placebo was -2-0%). Their trial has- many strengths, including a low drop-out rate of 21% compared with nearly 50% in other trials,3 documentation that weight loss was body fat, demonstration that quality of life improved, and that no important behavioural changes were noted.