Eleni Pappa, Theodosios D Filippatos, Moses S Elisaf
Abstract
Naltrexone ER/bupropion ER, a new drug for the management of obesity, will be available in Greece soon. The potential of the drug to reduce body weight is related to its ability to stimulate pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons. A number of clinical studies have shown that naltrexone/bupropion administration is associated with a decrease in body weight by 3.2-5.2% compared with placebo, while approximately half of treated patients experience a greater than 5% decrease in body weight. In diabetic patients a decrease of glycated hemoglobin by approximately 0.5% was also noticed. The most common adverse effects of the drug include nausea, vomiting and headache. Due to potential interaction with other drugs special attention should be given in clinical practice.
Keywords: naltrexone,bupropion,obesity,diabetes mellitus