The results of a two-year BLOOM (behavioural modification and Lorcaserin for overweight and obesity management) programme have shown that Lorcaserin causes greater weight loss and helps to maintain weight loss compared to a placebo.
The drug, used in conjunction with behavioural modification, was also shown to improve values for biomarkers that could be predictive of future cardiovascular events, such as lipid levels, insulin resistance and blood pressure.
At the end of the trial’s first year, 47.5% of patients had lost at least 5% of their bodyweight, compared to 20.3% in the placebo group.
BLOOM co-principal investigator Dr Steven Smith said that Lorcaserin patients who completed year one of the trial lost an average of 8.2% of their baseline weight and improved their cardiovascular risk factors, such as BMI, glycaemic parameters and fibrinogen levels.
