Pharmacotherapies for Obesity: Past, Current, and Future Therapies

Table 3

Comparative efficacy of pharmacotherapy from recent meta-analyses of long-term studies in adults (12 months or more).

Drug	No. of studies	Total subjects	Mean weight difference (kg) (95% CI)	Reference
Rimonabant	4	Placebo: ~1600 Rimonabant: ~2500	4.7 (4.1, 5.3)	[9, 57, 58]
Orlistat	14	Placebo: 4509; Orlistat: 4948	2.9 (2.5, 3.2)	[57, 58]
Sibutramine	7	Placebo: 699 Sibutramine: 837	4.2 (3.6, 4.8)	[57, 58]
Sibutramine Orlistat	5	Sibutramine: 229 Orlistat: 249	3.4 (2.3, 4.6)	[59]
Bupropion^∗	5	Bupropion: 618; Placebo: 344	2.8 kg (1.1 to 4.5 kg)	[56]

CI: confidence interval; ^∗ 6 to 12 month studies.
Note: another meta-analysis of 5 studies with rimonabant compared to placebo, did not provide mean weight difference in kg, however the odds ratio was 1.07 (95% CI 0.9, 1.3) [60].