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Gender-related issues in the pharmacology of new anti-obesity drugs.

Mauro CataldiGiovanna MuscogiuriSilvia SavastanoLuigi BarreaBruna GuidaTaglialatela MaurizioAnnamaria Colao
Published in: Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity (2018)
Four new medicines-liraglutide, lorcaserin, bupropion/naltrexone, and phentermine/topiramate-have been recently added to the pharmacological arsenal for obesity treatment and could represent important tools to manage this epidemic disease. To achieve satisfactory anti-obesity goals, the use of these new medicines should be optimized and tailored to specific patient subpopulations also by applying dose adjustments if needed. In the present review, we posit that gender could be among the factors influencing the activity of the new obesity drugs both because of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic factors. Although evidence from premarketing clinical studies suggested that no dose adjustment by gender is necessary for any of these new medicines, these studies were not specifically designed to identify gender-related differences. This observation, together with the strong theoretical background supporting the hypothesis of a gender-dimorphic response, strongly call upon an urgent need of new real-life data on gender-related difference in the pharmacology of these new obesity drugs.
Keyphrases
  • insulin resistance
  • metabolic syndrome
  • weight loss
  • high fat diet induced
  • type diabetes
  • weight gain
  • mental health
  • adipose tissue
  • public health
  • body mass index
  • case report
  • artificial intelligence