The word is out. BELVIQ (Lorcaserin) is the newest diet pill that can help people lose weight. It now has an FDA Approval which gives Arena Pharmaceuticals authority to manufacture and sell this drug in the US.
This is the first time that the FDA approved a diet pill this century. The last time they gave a similar approval was for Xenical. 13 years ago.
With this development, many people now are asking, “Which is the better diet pill to help them lose weight?”.
Well it might be like comparing apples to oranges as of the moment for Belviq is a new product and is still not available while Xenical has been a market leader for years and is a billion dollar product for Roche.
To make things fair, we will just stick to the facts and we will just let you decide which weight loss drug might be best for you.
Belviq Versus Xenical: Effectiveness
Xenical
Based on various clinical trials, the results of the effectiveness of Xenical are good. In different one-year clinical trials for Orlistat, around 35.5 % to 54.8% of the patients who took Xenical for a year lost 5% of their body weight while around 16% to 24% of the patient lost 10% or more of their original body mass. A significant number of patients gained weight after they stopped using Xenical.
Belviq
A clinical trail for Lorcaserin called BLOOM reports that 47.5% patients who took Lorcaserin lost at least 5% of their body weight. In addition, 22.6% of the patients in this trial lost at least 10 % of their original body weight.
In a trial called BLOSSOM, Lorcaserin patients lost 5.9% of their body weight or an average of 12.7 pounds as compared to those who took placebo who just lost 2.6% body weight or an average of 6.3 pounds.
For diabetic patients, the BLOOM DM study recorded the 37.5% of the diabetic population lost 5% or greater weight loss reduction for those who took Lorcaserin.
Belviq Vs Xenical: Safety
Xenical has been in use for more than 10 years now. Millions of people have already tried this diet pill all over the world. In many countries, Xenical in now considered an Over the Counter drug or OTC, and you would not need a prescription from your doctor to buy Xenical. This is a testament that Orlistat is generally safe to use by overweight people and is very well tolerated in terms of side effects.
For Belviq’s part, it is still an untested product outside its clinical trials. The FDA has ordered Arena Pharmaceuticals to conduct 6 after market studies for Belviq to determine if the drug is really safe for the general population. These studies will take note of various side effects and the over all tolerability of Lorcaserin. The FDA will also take a special notice to events leading to cardiovascular problems like heart attack and stroke.
Once available, you will needing a prescription from you doctor before you can buy Belviq in drugstores and online pharmacies.
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BELVIQ vs XENICAL: what is the best diet pill?
Future posts for this series will include topics like Mode of Action, Side Effects, Prices, Availability, Safety and others.
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