An investigational diet pill called lorcaserin successfully helped overweight and obese adults lose weight while they participated in a diet- and exercise-related weight loss program, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Being obese has been linked with an increased risk for: • Cardiovascular disease • Diabetes mellitus • Cancer Researchers from Florida Hospital and the Sanford-Burnham Institute randomly assigned over 3000 overweight and obese adults to take lorcaserin or a placebo daily for one year. At the end of that year, those taking the placebo continued on placebo, but those taking lorcaserin were randomly assigned a second time to receive the drug or a placebo. All participants also received counseling about diet and exercise. Lorcaserin acts on receptors known to be present in the valves of the heart, so participants’ heart valves were studied for signs of abnormalities at the end of the first and second years of the study. At the end of the first year, nearly half of the participants taking lorcaserin lost 5% or more of their body weight — an average of 5.8 kg. In the placebo group, only about one-fifth of participants lost 5% or more of their body weight, for an average weight loss of 2.2 kg. Among those taking lorcaserin who lost more than 5% of their body weight in the first year, 68% of those who continued taking the medication into the second year kept the weight off. In contrast, only about half of those switched to …