Lorcaserin therapy also was associated with “slight, but clinically relevant, improvements in almost all reported surrogate measures of diabetes and cardiovascular risk. These findings are important in light of the problems with drugs such as rimonabant and sibutramine, which do not produce similar reductions in blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of [LDL] cholesterol that would be expected with the weight loss achieved,” he noted.
“Lorcaserin use does not seem to increase the risk of valvulopathy, pulmonary hypertension, depression, or suicidal thoughts, but phase III studies will be required to confirm these initial findings in larger populations of patients,” he added.
DR. ASTRUP is in the department of nutrition at the University of Copenhagen in Frederiksberg, Denmark. He reported being a board member and receiving grants from Novo Nordisk, Neurosearch, and Merck. These comments are taken from his editorial accompanying Dr. Smith's report (N. Engl. J. Med. 2010;363:288-90).
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