Vivus' Qnexa boosts QoL in obese patients

US drugmaker Vivus presented positive results from the Quality of Life data collected during a Phase II clinical trial of Qnexa at the 2007 annual scientific meeting of the North America Association of the Study of Obesity, held in New Orleans. According to the firm, the agent, which is a novel combination therapy of topiramate and phentermine, had an encouraging impact on quality of life in obese patients. Weight-related quality-of-life was assessed using the Impact of Weight of Life-Lite questionnaire.

Patients treated with Qnexa had significantly greater improvements than the topiramate and placebo groups in the physical function, self-esteem and public distress domains of the questionnaire, with the greatest improvement occurring in self-esteem. Although all the study groups reported weight loss, the trial showed that patients treated with Qnexa and phentermine alone had greater improvements in quality of life than placebo or topiramate alone. Topiramate treatment yielded more weight loss than phentermine, but without any appreciable improvements on QoL, Vivus noted.