PIXABAY, BIGBLOCKBLOBBERAn experimental anti-obesity drug called beloranib suffered another major setback today (December 2) with the announcement of the death of a second participant in a clinical trial. Both patients, who died of blood clots, had taken beloranib and not a placebo, but it’s not clear whether the drug contributed to their deaths. Still, shares of the drug’s maker, Zafgen, slid 60 percent this week.
“It increases the onus on the company to show that the drug is not causing the events,” Joseph Schwartz, managing director at investment bank Leerink Partners, told The Boston Globe. “You don’t know if it’s absolutely related to the drug, but it doesn’t look good. Now you have two events, so it increases the risk.”
Beloranib is certainly not the first obesity drug to have a rough go. Other treatments that had gone through late-stage testing or even FDA approval have been pulled from the market over potential side effects, ranging from suicidal thoughts to heart damage.
In recent years, a handful of drug approvals have reinvigorated hope for an effective obesity medication. Many of them act upon the same appetite-suppression centers of the brain. ...
