Pharmacological Management of Obesity: A Century of Expert Opinions in Cecil Textbook of Medicine

Abstract

Background: Innovations in drug therapy for obesity have had a limited impact on the body mass index, prevalence of medical complications, quality of life, and work potential of a substantial majority of affected persons.

Study question: What are the milestones of the changes in the expert approach to the pharmacological management of obesity in the past century?

Study design: To determine the changes in the experts' approach to the management of obesity, as presented in a widely used textbook in the United States.

Data sources: The primary sources were chapters describing the management of obesity in the 26 editions of Cecil Textbook of Medicine published from 1927 through 2020. Secondary sources were publications retrieved from Medline that clarified technical issues related to the development, regulatory approval, and use of the drugs mentioned in the Cecil Textbook of Medicine.

Results: Pharmacological interventions aimed at increasing caloric expenditures through thermogenesis were recommended from 1927 through 1943. Thyroid extracts were prescribed even in the absence of demonstrated hypothyroidism or decreased basal metabolic rate throughout this period. Dinitrophenol was mentioned in 1937, but was banned soon thereafter. Appetite suppression with amphetamine was considered useful from 1943 through 1988, after which the drug was replaced with other centrally acting molecules, such as fenfluramine in 1988, sibutramine in 2000, and rimonabant in 2008, which were in turn withdrawn because of major adverse effects. In the past decade, obesity has been treated with the appetite suppressants phentermine-topiramate, bupropion-naltrexone, lorcaserin, and liraglutide, and with orlistat, a drug promoting fat malabsorption. The change in weight produced by these drugs is generally modest and transient.

Conclusions: The pharmacological management of obesity has remained frustratingly inefficient. The reasons for the relative lack of success may reside in the ever-growing access to dense, palatable, and relatively inexpensive food, coupled with the decrease in energy expenditure created by a sedentary lifestyle.