Weight-loss drug backed by panel

LOS ANGELES — A panel of medical experts voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to endorse the controversial weight-loss drug Qnexa, clearing the way for the Food and Drug Administration to approve a new prescription obesity medication for the first time since 1999.

The FDA will issue a final ruling later this year, but the agency typically follows the recommendations of its advisory committees.

The 20-2 vote in favor of Qnexa was a surprising reversal from 2010, when the same advisory committee decided that the drug's risks of heart problems and birth defects outweighed its weight-loss benefits.

In a clinical trial involving 4,323 people, Qnexa — a combination of the anti-convulsant drug topiramate and the appetite suppressant phentermine — led to an average loss of about 10 percent of total body weight in the first year of use.

Many users also saw improvements in blood pressure.

But the trials also found that the drug caused a slight increase in heart rate, which can boost the odds of a heart attack or stroke.