Health
Orexigen Boasts of Diet Pill’s Heart Benefits; Regulators Not Happy
(National Monitor) – Orexigen Therapeutics saw its shares skyrocket to its highest point in 18 months after declaring that its diet pill, Contrave, had benefits to the body’s cardiovascular system — but regulators aren’t happy with that announcement.
Orexigen claimed that patients using Contrave had fewer adverse cardiovascular events or deaths than patients on a placebo based on a study involved 8,910 patients, according to a Bloomberg report.
The company had won approval in September to market the drug to weight-loss patients. The pill is meant to be comobined with diet and exercise to reduce cravings for those suffering from chronic weight problems.
The company said in a filing on Tuesday that the drug’s cardiovascular effect “were unexpected and appear to be unrelated to weight change,” according to the report.
