The Food and Drug Administration recently approved another weight-loss drug (Contrave), a combination of naltrexone (indicated for opioid dependence) and bupropion (indicated for depression). This is the third weight-loss drug approved in the past 2 years. The FDA previously approved lorcaserin (Belviq) and topiramate/phentermine (Qsymia). This approval activity signals pharmaceutical interest in a multibillion dollar weight loss industry and perhaps, maybe less so, the FDA’s recognition of our public health crisis.
For patients who meet criteria for the use of these medications, they should be offered if they can be afforded. However, these medications may make patients behave differently.
It’s called “license.”
License is the psychological phenomenon in which people who feel they have made progress toward a goal feel liberated to make an incongruent choice. Think of a patient interested in losing weight who now takes a weight-loss pill. Despite not having lost any weight yet and perhaps just after taking the first pill, the patient then makes a choice to consume a high-calorie dessert.
Here are some data that support that this could be happening.
One team of investigators randomized subjects to being informed they were taking a placebo or a weight-loss supplement (which was actually the same placebo tablet as in the other study arm). After receiving the supplement, participants were allowed access to a reward buffet lunch at which their food consumption was recorded. Compared with controls, participants receiving a purported weight-loss supplement ate more food at the reward buffet. This effect seemed to occur through a perceived sense that they were making progress toward their weight-loss goal by taking the pill (Nutrition 2014;30:1007-14).
This is critical for us to think about and incorporate into our clinical teaching when prescribing these medications. Psychological liberation threatens any health gains we can make at a population level with any weight-loss approach. We need to help our patients understand that these medications should be used in combination with sustainable lifestyle changes or they may as well be taking a placebo.
Dr. Ebbert is professor of medicine, a general internist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine. The opinions expressed are those of the author. The opinions expressed in this article should not be used to diagnose or treat any medical condition nor should they be used as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified, board-certified practicing clinician.