New Pharmacological Agents for Treatment of Obesity

Jennifer L. Costello, PharmD, BCPS, BC-ADM, ambulatory care clinical pharmacist at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, gives a brief overview of new treatments for obesity.

Liraglutide is one such new weight-loss drug. Dr. Costello says liraglutide may seem familiar to pharmacists because it was first approved as a diabetes treatment. After expanding the drug’s indication to include weight-loss, liraglutide was renamed Saxenda. Saxenda comes in a much higher dose than typically seen for diabetes.

Another newer treatment is Contrave, which is a combination of 2 previously approved drugs—naltrexone/bupropion. The two drugs in the combination are an opioid antagonist and an anti-depressant, respectively.