text_1: Weight-Loss Drugs Face High Hurdles At FDA
text_2: We like how the blog post linked to the FDA briefing documents, allowing interested readers to do more homework if they wished. That’s a little addition – that can be a big help for readers – and for the completeness of the overall reporting effort. However, the story could have directly included – even at a high level – some of the data from the clinical trials so that readers could have an appreciation for the magnitude of the weight loss seen. The one line – “Qnexa does appear to help many people lose at 5 percent of their body weight” – wasn’t sufficient in our view. The tradeoffs of potential benefits and harms with this drug represent vital public health and safety issues – and, if approved, set the stage for important physician-patient shared decision-making discussions.