Cross-post from OD. I figured it was more suited for here anyway.
So Arena Pharmaceuticals has been developing this compound for a longgg time with the idea that it's going to be a blockbuster. The regulation process went extraordinarily slowly, which is why I guess it's not a household name. It's the first totally new weight-loss molecule approved by the FDA in something like 15 years, but that's relatively old news. More recently relevant is that the DEA just gave it the final thumbs up for Schedule IV approval, due to its ability to provide hallucinations and habitual use. That was on May 7th, so the launch of this new drug should slip in as early as June 7th. And it should be a big launch too, owing to its "potential blockbuster" status. There's gonna be a whole lot of these pills out there at once.
Okay but so, why should you care? Well first check out this structure:
It looks like something out of the ADD "draw random molecules" thread, right? As for pharmacology, lorcaserin is a 5-HT2C full agonist. That's what gives it its appetite loss properties, but it also seems to give it some other interesting properties.
Check this out from the PI form:
So as I'm reading this, the DEA just Schedule IV'd a drug that can make you trip for 9 hours if you take as little as double the daily dose at once. I think this drug could become a pretty big problem if it ends up being recreationally used; I could see it being used on its own and also with other drugs as a combination. The appetite loss might be annoying but it also might be a recreationally beneficial effect. I think it should be emphasized that, unlike fenfluramine, this compound has no activity at 5-HT2B receptors, so there should be little risk of cardiovascular effects. What do you all think, is lorcaserin going to be a household name in a couple years?
So Arena Pharmaceuticals has been developing this compound for a longgg time with the idea that it's going to be a blockbuster. The regulation process went extraordinarily slowly, which is why I guess it's not a household name. It's the first totally new weight-loss molecule approved by the FDA in something like 15 years, but that's relatively old news. More recently relevant is that the DEA just gave it the final thumbs up for Schedule IV approval, due to its ability to provide hallucinations and habitual use. That was on May 7th, so the launch of this new drug should slip in as early as June 7th. And it should be a big launch too, owing to its "potential blockbuster" status. There's gonna be a whole lot of these pills out there at once.
Okay but so, why should you care? Well first check out this structure:
It looks like something out of the ADD "draw random molecules" thread, right? As for pharmacology, lorcaserin is a 5-HT2C full agonist. That's what gives it its appetite loss properties, but it also seems to give it some other interesting properties.
Check this out from the PI form:
So as I'm reading this, the DEA just Schedule IV'd a drug that can make you trip for 9 hours if you take as little as double the daily dose at once. I think this drug could become a pretty big problem if it ends up being recreationally used; I could see it being used on its own and also with other drugs as a combination. The appetite loss might be annoying but it also might be a recreationally beneficial effect. I think it should be emphasized that, unlike fenfluramine, this compound has no activity at 5-HT2B receptors, so there should be little risk of cardiovascular effects. What do you all think, is lorcaserin going to be a household name in a couple years?
