Written by Jamie Stowe

Happy faces were reported in the boardrooms of Vivus after its experimental weight loss medication reached American FDA guidelines and rules in two individual human clinical trials. The shares in the company Vivus increased by over 80 percent at one point on the Nasdaq Stock Market when the news was announced.

The new weight loss medication Qnexa was examined in two separate year long studies using a placebo controlled format. In one of the studies over 2/3 of those taking the Qnexa lost five percent of their body weight whereas only seventeen percent of those who were given the placebo tablets did the same. In the other clinical trial 70 percent of those who took the Qnexa lost more than five percent of their body weight compared with only 21 percent of those given the placebo tablets. These results are encouraging and Vivus said that they were hoping to get permission to sell Qnexa by the end of 2009.

Qnexa could be a blockbuster weight loss medication and analysts have even speculated that sales could run into the hundreds of millions every year. The drug would be targeted at those individuals who suffer from diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure as a result of their chronic weight problems.

Vivus put out a statement saying that the study had not only helped people to lose weight but had also resulted in ‘significant improvements’ in a whole list of metabolic risk factors such as hypertension, elevated cholesterol levels and type 2 diabetes. They also said that the trial had showed the drug to be very safe as well as effective.

Vivus is likely to soon initiate commercial discussions with some of the big players in the pharmaceutical industry in order to promote and market their new drug.

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