Zoe Duchesne | Dean Isidro | Cosmopolitan US July 2012 | Look Bangin’ at the Beach

America’s Food and Drug Administration has approved lorcaserin as the first new diet drug in 13 years. After a full vetting by the Drug Enforcement Administration, lorcaserin will be marketed in the US under the commercial name Belviq.

The drug will only be marketed to obese patients, those with a BMI of 30 or higher — one-third of Americans. Secondarily, those with a BMI of 27 and accompanying risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes will also qualify. With one in three Americans obese, the market for lorcaserin will be huge.

Forbes reviews the Phase III trial results, which are impressive.

In one Phase III clinical trial for lorcaserin, known as Blossom, 7.5% of patients lost at least 5% of their body weight, compared to 20.3% for placebo. Additionally, 22.6% of lorcaserin patients lost at least 10% of their body weight, compared to 7.7% for placebo. Lorcaserin patients achieved an average weight loss of 5.8% of their body weight, or 12.7 pounds, compared to 2.2%, or 4.7 pounds, for placebo. In a second trial, known as Bloom, 47.2% of lorcaserin patients lost at least 5% of their body weight, compared to 25.0% for placebo.

It’s always noteworthy when looking at study results, to see just how powerful the placebo factor can be. It’s not a small result that one in four placebo patients lost 5% of their body weight. The new drug appears to be much more effective in losing 10% of weight.