When Great Obesity Study Results May Not Be Enough (OREX)
Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) is moving in after-hours trading. The company has just announced that its first of four Phase III trials of its lead investigational product Contrave met its co-primary and key secondary endpoints. Be advised that there are questions about how this really fits in with the “targets” and the stock is indicated lower after the results.
This showed a significant reduction in body weight, improvements in markers of cardiovascular risk and reductions in selected food craving measures. If you can believe it, the result was a loss of about 20 to 25 pounds. This was with an exercise regimen and did include counselling, but generally speaking many who need to lose that much do better with ongoing reviews.
Here is the full release from the company.
Jon C. Ogg
January 8, 2009
Vivus' Qnexa: Better for Diabetes, or Better for Weight Loss? (VVUS)
Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) issued its awaited results on its mid-stage trial of its experimental drug Qnexa, showing that it lowered blood sugar levels and led to weight loss in patients with Type II diabetes.
The results are from its 28-week trial involving 206 subjects, and Vivus said that patients on Qnexa achieved a 1.2% reduction in the key blood sugar measurement hemoglobin A1c compared to a drop of -0.6% for those who received only the placebo.
Qnexa is also being developed for obesity, and the disclosed amount was a loss of approximately 8% of the patients’ starting body weigh. The placebo group reported a loss of 1.2% of their starting body weight.
Vivus also reported that Qnexa trial patients also had significant improvement in cardiovascular risk factors including blood pressure, triglyceride levels and waist circumference.
Qnexa is potentially not going to go entirely unchallenged or at least might not escape without at least some controversy, particularly considering the history of the company and the history of the compounds. It is a combination of phentermine from “fen-phen” and an epilepsy drug Topamax (generic as topiramate).
Shares have been mixed today despite this being reported as and being perceived as positive news. Shares are up less than 1% at $7.05 after 90 minutes of being open, although shares have traded in a $6.81 to $7.22 trading range today alone.
Jon Ogg
June 10, 2008
