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naltrexone for weight loss

leaves

Senior Member
Messages
1,193
see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10802279

interesting this drug seems to pop up everywhere...
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Addiction drugs may boost weight loss

By Emma Wilkinson Health reporter, BBC News


A combination pill of two drugs used to treat addiction may help people lose weight, say US researchers.

The Lancet reports that Naltrexone, commonly used to treat alcoholics and heroin addicts, and the anti-smoking drug bupropion led to greater weight loss than diet and exercise alone.

It is thought the treatment may help beat food cravings.

However, one UK expert said he would like to see much higher weight loss for the drug to be used in clinics.

Professor Nick Finer, an obesity expert from University College London (UCL), said the drug may prove more useful if researchers can better identify who would benefit.



This is the first drug I'm aware of that targets both the appetite and reward centres in the brain”

Quote Professor Frank Greenway Study leader

In the study, 1,700 overweight and obese adults were all offered a weight-loss programme with diet and exercise advice.

Two-thirds were also given the combination treatment (in one of two doses) and a third were given a placebo, or dummy pill, to take twice a day.

Only half completed the trial, which lasted a year.

Overall those taking the treatment lost an average of 5% to 6% of their weight depending on the dose, compared with 1.3% in the placebo group.

The researchers said if only those who completed the trial were included, weight loss was 8% of body weight for those on the anti-addiction drugs.

The treatment was not without side effects which included nausea, headaches, constipation, dizziness, vomiting and a dry mouth.
'Better control'

The drug is designed to target both the parts of the brain controlling appetite but also reward.

Regulators in the US are currently looking at whether the treatment, which will be marketed as Contrave, should be licensed.

Study leader Professor Frank Greenway, from Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana, said although 5% may not seem like a huge weight loss, it could make a real difference in terms of health risks.

"I think the weight loss we saw was significant even if it might not be as much as many people would like to see," he said.


He said a separate trial of the same drug but with a more intensive diet and exercise programme had shown a 10% average weight loss, compared with 5% in the placebo group.

"This is the first drug I'm aware of that targets both the appetite and reward centres in the brain," he said.

"People who struggle with cravings seem to have better control with their eating.

"In practice it is likely to be used in people who feel cravings get in the way of their ability to lose weight."

Professor Finer, from UCL, said combination treatments were likely to be the future for obesity drugs.

But he said he was not overly impressed with the weight loss seen in the trial, especially given the side-effects.

"The question will be can they define who the responders are and also can you get better results by combining the drug with a more effective weight loss programme," he said.

"We desperately need effective drugs but we have to have very high standards of safety and acceptability to patients."
 

zoe.a.m.

Senior Member
Messages
368
Location
Olympic Peninsula, Washington
Wow, that sounds like a potent combination! I have not tried LDN, but I tried bupropion for about a week or so (at 1/8 of the lowest starting dose) and it was like being on some type of serious upper. I also could not sleep and became seriously agitated. I think it can cause anorexia as I remember a friend of mine in college who took it but had to switch because he had a tendency to undereat when he was depressed and he lost serious weight.

To me this sounds a little too close to straight-up recreational drugs causing weight loss or Fen-phen, but that's just my personal bias due to sensitivity with meds.
 

Tammie

Senior Member
Messages
793
Location
Woodridge, IL
I wonder if they are using full dose naltrexone or low dose.....full dose has been associated with possible liver problems and since burproprion stresses the liver, I would think that the combo could prove toxic