US approves use of weight loss drug Qsymia 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new weight-loss drug manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Vivus.

According to the BBC, the FDA approved the use of Qsymia for patients who are overweight or obese and have at least one other weight-related condition.

The approval comes after the FDA gave another anti-obesity drug, Belviq, the green signal last month.

The approvals are the first to be issued in the U.S. after 13 years.

The FDA said that two studies conducted on patients who took Qsymia, along with changing their diet and increasing exercise, showed an average weight loss of 6.7 per cent and 8.9 per cent.

However, the drug can increase heart rate and will therefore not be recommended for patients with heart disease, or who have recently suffered a stroke.

Other tests would be carried out on Vivus to assess the impact of the drug on cardiac health.

Pregnant women are another group who must not use the drug, as it can cause harm to foetuses, the FDA said.

Doctors in the U.S. have urged health regulators to give the green signal to new weight-loss treatments as obesity rates among American adults has reached 35 percent.