486: New Weight Loss Drug Approved by FDA

In this podcast, Chip Lavie, MD, joins Todd Whitthorne to discuss Qsymia (formerly dubbed Qnexa), a new weight loss medication approved by the FDA that should be available by the end of this year. Dr. Lavie is triple board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases, and nuclear cardiology, and is a staff cardiologist at the Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans and is medical director of cardiac rehabilitation and preventive cardiology at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation. Dr. Lavie’s also an active researcher and is the author, or co-author of more than 600 medical publications. As a society we need additional tools to help those who are struggling with weight. Seventy percent of  Americans are overweight or obese, and the number of those who are morbidly obese continues to grow. The new weight loss medication, Qsymia, is a combination of the drugs phentermine and topiramate, and it’s estimated that weight loss will be 7- to 10 percent. For most individuals, this amount of weight loss can dramatically improve health values, although the person might well still not be at an ideal weight. Dr. Lavie and Todd discuss the potential impact this new medication may have on the obesity epidemic.