AN OVERVIEW OF PHARMACOTHERAPY OF OBESITY: AN UPDATE

Obesity is a chronic disease and a major health problem which require long term treatment in developed and affluent society of developing countries. Pharmacotherapies for obesity have to be given for a long duration with lifestyle modifications. Anti-obesity drugs acts through various targets in the body which reduce the food intake, decrease absorption and increase metabolism. Many drugs were approved and used in the past but were removed or abandoned in the later stages due to the various adverse drug reactions associated with the drugs. At present orlistat is the only approved drugs but it’s also associated with steatorrhoea and other side effects. Lorcaserin and the combination of phentermine and topiramate have shown to reduce greater weight loss and fewer side effects than orlistat. There are new combinations from existing drugs are in various phase of clinical trials like bupropion/naltrexone, bupropion/zonisamide and pramlintide/metreleptin. Many single agents like tesofensine, liraglutide, cetilistat, etc are in various phases of clinical trials and have shown promise to be in the league of the present drugs with approval in future. This article aims to bring data of the present and the developing drugs from various clinical trials which hold promise to be in the market for future.