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Popular Weight Loss Drug Belviq Suddenly Recalled Due To Cancer Link
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March 1, 2021
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4:49Now PlayingVia America’s Lawyer: The weight-loss aid Belviq was once the most popular drug on the market. Then came a recall due to hundreds of cases of brain, lung, and pancreatic cancer. Attorney Stephen Luongo joins Mike Papantonio to explain how the FDA did a regulatory U-turn after approving the dangerous drug back in 2012.
To learn more about Belviq lawsuits, visit
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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
A popular weight loss drug sold under the brand name Belviq has been voluntarily recalled after a strong link between the drug and certain types of fatal cancers. And I have Steve Luongo here to talk to me about that, who's handling this case, Steve, first of all, let me, let me clear something up. There is no such thing as a voluntary recall, you understand that.
Absolutely.
The company likes to say we voluntarily took it off the market. No, it's the FDA said, either you take it off the market, are you going to be, have sanctions or whatever. Again, this is another story where the FDA failed to do their job, isn't it? Take it from there. What is Belviq? What kind of injuries are we talking about?
Absolutely. So let's start from the beginning. Belviq is a prescription weight loss drug and what it was designed to do is combat, combat obesity, type two diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure. And what it does is it attacks the serotonin levels in the user. So it manipulates and tricks your mind into thinking that you're full without actually having to eat any food.
Well, I handled the cases early on. I tried the Fen-Phen cases. The Fen-Phen cases was a weight loss program that was going to be the new secret to losing weight. It killed hundreds of women. Again, it was another situation where the FDA had all the information they needed, failed to do their job. In this situation, Belviq was, the FDA said no, in 2012, right? They said.
2010.
2010, they said, no, you can't sell the drug. It was, I think, five to nine on the committee that said that. They reviewed everything said, this, first of all, it doesn't work. Second of all, it's dangerous. And then after, so you have a political change. They come back Belviq comes back and says, hey, you know what, we want another shot and the FDA says, oh, sure. The one we turned down, the one we said no to, you can sell it now. Take it from there.
Right. And you're exactly right. It's the same product that was denied by the FDA in 2010 was passed and approved in 2012. So what changed? Nothing changed except the people approving it. And in fact, when they denied it in 2010, the issues were, does this drug even work and is it worth the cost benefit analysis? In which time they knew based off a New York Times article that these laboratory rats were developing cancer or tumors that potentially could be cancerous at that time. So they were aware of back in 2010 of the cancerous and the carcinogen nature of this drug, the lorcaserin.
Yeah. And it doesn't stop there. I mean, this is a drug where they found a history of people having suicidal thoughts, uncontrolled bleeding, men were growing breasts from it. You had blood, you had blood sugar problems that were putting people in, in, in, in sometimes comas. This is, this, but you had cancer. And the, the FDA knew all of that and they come in the second time and they start taking the word of the company. What is the company, Eisai?
The, the company is Eisai. It was originally developed by Arena Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego based company. In 2017, it was sold to Japanese pharmaceutical Eisai in which they really pumped up the advertising, got the sales increased to where eventually Belviq, Belviq was the number one drug in the market at that time.
Okay. So as this, you know, I'd like to say that this is just a one-off kind of situation, but we're seeing it more and more, Steve. You handle these cases.
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