EAST TEXAS (KYTX) -- The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first new prescription diet drug in a decade. It got the green light even though patients only lost a moderate amount of weight in studies.
Lisa Sutter has been struggling with her weight for years.
"I was always a normal weight until after I had my last child in my mid 30s and something just changed in me after that where I just couldn't control what I ate."
The 51-year-old enrolled in a clinical trial testing a new weight loss drug called Belviq (bell-veek), known generically as lorcaserin. The drug acts on the area of the brain that controls appetite and metabolism.
In one year, she lost 40 pounds, about 20 percent of her body weight.
"I didn't feel hungry. I felt like I had my self control back."
It can double, triple, the number of people who can lose 10 percent or more of their body weight in conjunction with a diet program. FDA advisors had concerns the drug could also damage heart valves and breast and brain tumors which were seen in animal studies.
Many doctors still feel the safest way to lose weight is through diet and exercise, not pills.
Something as simple as cutting your calories, taking the liquid calories out, getting some walking in helps you to lose that weight slowly and steadily.
Sutter has struggled with her weight since going off the pill.
"I started feeling extremely hungry again and gaining back all the weight I lost."
She says Belviq was a magic bullet for her. And she's relieved the drug will now be available for her and others trying to get back to a healthy weight.
Belviq was only approved for obese adults or those who are overweight and have at least one medical issue like diabetes or high cholesterol.
