Lorcaserin Linked with Weight Loss, Safe for Heart

The serotonin 2c receptor antagonist lorcaserin was associated with sustained weight loss without increasing risk for adverse cardiovascular (CV) events in overweight or obese patients, according to results of the CAMELLIA-TIMI 61 trial.  

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine simultaneously with its presentation at the recent European Society of Cardiology 2018 Congress in Munich, randomly assigned 12,000 overweight patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) or multiple CV risk factors to either lorcaserin 10 mg twice daily, or placebo. Outcomes of interest included a composite of CV death, myocardial infarction or stroke. Patients were followed out to a median of 3.3 years.  

CAMELLIA-TIMI 61: Lorcaserin, a selective serotonin 2C receptor agonist, facilitated sustained weight loss without apparent increased risk of major adverse CV events in a high-risk population of overweight or obese patients. https://t.co/VAHLhfwfgs #ESCCongress pic.twitter.com/DuLde75d25

— NEJM (@NEJM) August 26, 2018

Weight loss at 1 year was at least 5% in 1,986 of the 5,135 patients assigned to locaserin compared to 883 of 5,083 in the placebo group (OR=3.01; 95% CI, 2.74 to 3.30; P<0.001). The rate of the primary composite study outcome was 2.0% in the lorcaserin group and 2.1% for placebo, which met the study’s noninferiority boundary (HR=0.99; 95% CI, 0.85 to 1.14; P<0.001 for noninferiority). The rate of extended major CV events was similar between the study groups (P=0.55). 

“Among overweight or obese patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or multiple cardiovascular risk factors who were being treated with dietary and exercise interventions, those who received lorcaserin had better long-term rates of weight loss than those who received placebo at a median follow-up of 3.3 years,” the researchers concluded in their study. “The higher weight-loss rates were achieved without an accompanying increase in the risk of cardiovascular events.” 

This is a big deal for obesity research: In a high-risk population of obese patients, lorcaserin (Belviq 5HT2c agonist) facilitated sustained weight loss without a higher rate of major cardiovascular events than that with placebo. https://t.co/8f5uig52DB

— Bita Moghaddam بيتا مقدم (@bita137) August 27, 2018

Landmark @NEJM study on the adjunctive diet pill locaserin, led by Dr. Erin Bohula from @BrighamWomens (who taught me how to place lines in the ICU during residency 🙏). Way to go, Erin! https://t.co/RYgdB6bUCK pic.twitter.com/M7ALBfU5I4

— Peter Liang, MD MPH (@petersliang) September 2, 2018

https://twitter.com/InterfaceGP/status/1034164909007953921

Source: New England Journal of Medicine