Merck dumps late-stage obesity drug

You can write off another experimental obesity drug. In a tersely worded statement, Merck announced that it is dumping its late-stage obesity drug taranabant after determining that the efficacy of the drug is tied to high doses--which in turn triggered side effects. The data for the drug demonstrated that researchers needed to use a 4 mg dose to get a 5 percent weight loss. But at 4 mg, the drug was also tied to twice the rate of psychiatric side effects. And Pharmalot notes that even at 2 mg the drug was "problematic," with twice as many patients dropping out of the trial at that dose compared to placebo.

"Available Phase III data showed that both efficacy and adverse events were dose related, with greater efficacy and more adverse events in the higher doses. Therefore, after careful consideration, we determined that the overall profile of taranabant does not support further development for obesity," said John Amatruda, M.D., senior vice president and research head, diabetes and obesity, Merck Research Laboratories.

- see Merck's release
- read the story from Pharmalot

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