FDA-Approved Anti-Obesity Drugs in the United States

Homayoun L Daneschvar; Mark D Aronson; Gerald W Smetana

doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2016.02.009

FDA-Approved Anti-Obesity Drugs in the United States

Am J Med. 2016 Aug;129(8):879.e1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2016.02.009. Epub 2016 Mar 4.

Authors

Homayoun L Daneschvar¹, Mark D Aronson², Gerald W Smetana²

Affiliations

¹ Harvard Medical School, Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass. Electronic address: hdanesch@bidmc.harvard.edu.
² Harvard Medical School, Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass.

PMID: 26949003
DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2016.02.009

Abstract

Obesity is a growing health problem in our society and its treatment has been challenging. In recent decades, several anti-obesity drugs have been withdrawn from the market because of reported and documented adverse effects. After years of interruption, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved multiple new anti-obesity drugs. The majority of these medications are taken orally, and only one is administered subcutaneously. In this article, we review the efficacy, adverse effects, and mechanism of action of all 5 FDA-approved drugs.

Keywords: Anti-obesity drugs; Obesity; Weight loss; Weight loss drugs.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Anti-Obesity Agents / pharmacology*
Drug Approval*
Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
Humans
Obesity / drug therapy*
United States
Weight Loss / drug effects*

Substances

Anti-Obesity Agents