Drugs in development
Update: October 26, 2007. Anti-obesity drug development is an uncertain process and each month the landscape of compounds in preclinical and human testing can change dramatically. Drugs you thought you might see in a year may suddenly disappear, while others seem to pop up from nowhere! A number of factors determine whether a drug company will continue with a clinical trial on a new compound, but the major two are safety and efficacy. Other determinants include ease of manufacturer, palatability of the drug to consumers, including the likelihood that patients will adhere to the treatment protocol. These are just some of the factors that will determine, not only the likelihood that the compound will receive FDA approval, but also whether or not the drug will appeal to large numbers of consumers. Without the potential for profitability, many drugs may never make it to market.
In the past several years the market for anti-obesity drugs has gone from just a few drugs to hundreds -- and some notable failures -- Axokine failing in phase III due to the formation of neutralizing antibodies in subjects, after which time they stopped losing weight, AOD9604 and oleoylestrone discontinued for lack of efficacy -- all go to show just how difficult developing a drug that is safe and effective.
Some of the most promising upcoming compounds are actually retreads of old drugs, using phentermine, bupropion, zonisamide, topiramate and others compounded into a single pill.
Because of the vast number of compounds now being developed (more than 200 of which are in our database) it is no longer possible to keep this page fresh if it is all inclusive.
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