Weight loss can be a constant struggle and there are some who may benefit from medical interventions to increase their likelihood to lose weight and keep it off.

Belviq (lorcaserin) is a weight-loss drug first approved by the FDA in 2012. It works by affecting brain serotonin to help control the appetite of the user. It was the first weight-loss drug approved by the FDA since 1999.

Belviq was available by prescription only, and a person taking Belviq was supposed to lose 5 percent of their weight during the first 12 weeks taking the drug when coupled with a low-calorie diet. It was also prescribed to overweight people who had serious weight-related health issues such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

At the time of FDA approval, Eisai, the manufacturer, was required to hold a study on the cardiovascular effects of Belviq. However, in 2020, the distributor of Belviq, Eisai, pulled it from the market in the United States at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA found that those who took Belviq are at an increased risk for pancreatic, colorectal and lung cancers. These findings came from a five-year double-blind study of over 12,000 individuals across eight different countries. This study was done at the requirement of the FDA to study the cardiovascular effects of Belviq.

Data from the study showed that 7.7 percent of those taking Belviq developed cancer, while only 7.1 percent of those taking the placebo developed cancer. The study was done to assess the cardiovascular safety of Belviq, but ended up concluding that those that took Belviq had a slight increase in the occurrence of cancers than those we took the placebo.

Due to these findings, the FDA requested Eisai, the manufacturer, to voluntarily pull Belviq from the U.S. market. However, the FDA did not formally recall the product.

Lawyers are actively taking cases for those who took Belviq and were diagnosed with cancer as a result. Lawsuit numbers are growing, it is estimated that hundreds of individuals have developed cancer as a result of Belviq.