| Today, I am going to deal with three pieces of | | | | - a sobering thought for those planning the US public |
| back-to-back news about the weight loss market in | | | | health response to the obesity crisis. |
| general and Acomplia in particular. | | | | Which brings me to the specific Acomplia news. Last |
| Decision Resources is one of the world's leading | | | | June, the Berlin social court classified Acomplia as a |
| research firms on health care and pharmaceutical | | | | "lifestyle" drug. In doing so, the court was confirming the |
| issues. In a recent report, it confirms that obesity has | | | | decision made by the G-BA - a self-regulating body of |
| reached epidemic proportion in seven of the world's | | | | doctors and health insurers that makes drug |
| major markets: France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, | | | | recommendations. German law does not allow the |
| Japan, Spain and the United States. Given the potential | | | | state-run health insurance companies to reimburse |
| need for effective treatments, the company predicts | | | | patients for non-therapeutic expenditure. There is a |
| that the market will grow fivefold by 2016 from the | | | | prejudice that being overweight is not an illness |
| base figures in 2006 where sales are estimated at | | | | requiring treatment but the result of lifestyle choices by |
| $478 million to $2.7 billion. | | | | the individual. This month, an appeal against this |
| Given the rate of growth in the incidence of obesity, | | | | decision was rejected which leaves Acomplia firmly |
| Decision Resources predicts that the need for safe, | | | | restricted to the middle and upper classes who can |
| effective and well-tolerated medications will be | | | | afford to pay for it, and denies treatment to the poor |
| strongest in the US. But, the experience of | | | | whose diet may put them more at risk of obesity. |
| Sanofi-Aventis is instructive. When it applied to the | | | | And back in the US, the latest edition of the journal Cell |
| Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the approval | | | | Metabolism is carrying encouraging new animal-study |
| of Acomplia, the FDA proved sceptical and demanded | | | | findings that Acomplia may be useful in blocking the |
| significantly more evidence of the medication's safety. | | | | development of alcoholic fatty liver - a major cause of |
| Sanofi-Aventis withdrew the application and will | | | | liver disease. Mice treated with Acomplia did not |
| resubmit next year. But this reaction from the FDA has | | | | experience alcohol's fat-building effects. The |
| become more common and it could slow the arrival of | | | | researchers speculate that Acomplia could be an |
| all the new medications in this category (Amylin, Arena | | | | effective treatment in humans to reverse the fatty |
| Pharmaceuticals, Merck and Pfizer all have antiobesity | | | | deposits and so prevent the progression into a full liver |
| medications in the development pipeline). | | | | disease without the need to make the full lifestyle |
| So we have an interesting situation developing. Looking | | | | change to give up the addiction for alcohol (which is |
| at the current medications in development, they either | | | | often not possible). They call for full clinical trials. |
| work in the same way as Acomplia and so may run | | | | How ironic that we should have such good news |
| into the same safety concerns, or they rely on | | | | about how effective Acomplia may be at the same |
| injections which are less a convenient delivery system. | | | | time as the US and German authorities seem so |
| Thus, there are no obvious "blockbuster" medications | | | | unsympathetic to the antiobesity market's needs. |
| due to appear in the US market in the next eight years | | | | |