Tesofensine

Tesofensine is the latest new obesity pill in the works. Currently, it's finishing up phase II trials and will be moving onto phase III studies. Whenever I hear about new diet pills coming out, it reminds me just how lucrative the weight loss business is and how society is so fixated on remedying all our woes in a pill. Remember, exercise in a pill, anyone? This all makes me cringe, especially the hope and goal for these pills.

"The next step are Phase III trials in which doctors will also try to regulate diet, something that Astrup said could lead to the kind of weight loss associated with gastric-bypass surgery"

To me, this seems like a scary endeavor. I find it interesting how these doctors say how this new pill has not shown the psychiatric suicidal ideations as the other diet pills have. However, they completely fail to address both the physical and mental consequences of gastric by-pass surgery. But isn't that their goal? To have comparable rates of weight loss? It just seems like more forethought should be given here. I wonder how this pill will compare to the experimental "no surgery required weight loss" technique in which a stomach is stapled via the esophagus.