The FDA is studying the side effects of an obesity pill called Zimulti, or rimonabant, on the grounds that it causes depression and suicidal thoughts:
Psychiatric problems "represent the most common and worrisome rimonabant-induced adverse events," the reviewers said. Twenty-six percent of Zimulti patients reported a psychiatric symptom, compared with 14 percent of placebo patients, they said.
Suicidal thoughts were reported for 0.63 percent of Zimulti patients and 0.38 percent of placebo patients, Sanofi said in a separate summary. One Zimulti patient actually committed suicide.
The company said all of the cases were associated with depression or other psychiatric disorders, and it would recommend that the drug not be used by patients with serious, uncontrolled mental illness.
What do you get for your troubles? Studies showed that adding a 20 milligram daily dose of Zimulti to your low calorie diet would enable you to lose 5 percent more weight than just dieting alone. (Interestingly, the drug is a cannabinoid antagonist that targets the part of your brain that gives you the munchies after smoking marijuana.)
Of course, depression as a side effect is pesky, so thank goodness for this completely different obesity treatment, a drug called Contrave that is essentially a mix of other drugs, including one that treats depression on its own. Why, you could lose weight from both pills and have your depression cleared up all at the same time!
Studies have found that weight loss [with Contrave], as a percentage of body weight, was around 7 percent after 24 weeks on the drug — far greater than the 5 percent per year guideline required for Food and Drug Administration approval.
Tollefson, who spent 13 years at Eli Lilly & Co., said Contrave’s chances of getting an FDA approval are high because the pill is a combination of two drugs that have been on the market for three decades.
Naltrexone is used to treat certain painkiller addictions and alcoholism. Buproprion is prescribed for depression.
OK, OK, I'm sure the effects don't actually stack so cleanly and popping handfuls of disparate obesity pills every morning is probably going to prove to be a net negative overall... but someone's going to try it someday, that's for sure.
