New anti-obesity drug approved for Australia

Australians struggling with obesity have a new drug to treat this disease after approval.

The listing of the weight loss drug on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Products is a "rare" step that will help more people gain access to a treatment that suits them, according to a leading obesity researcher.

Contrave, intended for use alongside a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity, combines two drugs already used in Australia, often to help people get rid of tobacco addiction and alcohol.

The pill affects the central nervous system, suppressing appetite and reducing cravings.

Clinical trials have shown that patients can lose an average of 5% of their body weight.

This may seem like little, but it's enough to improve people's metabolic health and reduce rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and lipid disorders, according to the Australian inventor of the drug.

Researcher Michael Cowley – now head of the physiology department at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute – discovered the drug while he was working in the United States.

Professor Cowley hopes that the additional drugs available on the market, whose use has been approved in the United States since 2014, will help people realize that there are effective medical treatments.

It will also help eliminate inappropriate social stigma, he says.

"There is a sector of the medical community and an area of ​​the Australian political community that considers obesity as a moral failure," he told APA.

"Most people in the world have recognized it as a disease and normally apply their clinical judgment to the treatment of diseases."

John Dixon, head of clinical research on obesity at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, says the Contrave list is increasing the number of drugs available for the treatment of obesity from three to four in Australia.

This comes as nearly one-third (28%) of Australian adults are obese, Professor Dixon claiming that "virtually none of them" currently receives effective weight loss treatment.

Some drugs are effective for some people but not for others. It is therefore important to increase the choices available, said Professor Dixon, especially since the evolution of lifestyle factors is only effective for one in 20 people.

"For those who really need it, and it's a lot of them, we have to see the doctors actually treat obesity, along with medical treatments," Professor Dixon told AAP.

"We would not treat heart disease, diabetes, or cancer only with lifestyle-based interventions, and yet, it's the prescription for managing one's weight."

Contrave is not on the list of pharmaceutical benefits – which means the federal government does not subsidize it – and will cost those who use it about $ 230 to $ 250 a month.

According to Professor Dixon, PBS does not contain drugs to treat obesity, despite the many resources listed to treat the complications badociated with the disease, such as diabetes, hypertension, certain cancers and the Sleep apnea.

"It's abominable. This is called blame for the stigma of obesity, "he said.

Side effects of the drug – established in clinical trials – include headache, constipation, dizziness, vomiting and dry mouth.