On Tuesday, December 6, 2010, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Contrave, a new drug for the treatment of obesity, manufactured by Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. FDA officials voiced concerns over the drugs ability to cause heart problems, due to the lack of elderly patients involved in the manufacturer-sponsored clinical trials. Nonetheless, officials voted 13 to 7 when deciding whether to approve the drug, stating that the benefits far outweigh the potential risks.

Contrave is a combination of two previously approved drugs, naltrexone, an anti-addiction pill, and bupropion, an anti-depressant. Both drugs have individually shown a great deal of promise in assisting overweight patients with weight loss. Side effects include insomnia and high blood pressure. In a recent clinical trial, patients who took Contrave lost 4.2% more weight than patients taking a placebo.