• Neil J Weissman, Matilde Sanchez, Gary G Koch, Steven R Smith, William R Shanahan, and Christen M Anderson.
• MedStar Health Research Institute and Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
• Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2013 Jul 1; 6 (4): 560-7.

BackgroundLorcaserin is a selective 5-HT2C agonist evaluated for weight management in clinical trials. Echocardiographic monitoring was conducted to test the hypothesis that selective 5-HT2C agonism would avoid valvular heart disease.Methods And ResultsEchocardiographic and weight change data from 5249 obese and overweight patients in 3 phase 3 trials were integrated. Treatment duration with 10 mg lorcaserin twice daily or placebo was 52 weeks. The proportions of patients who developed Food and Drug Administration-defined valvulopathy (≥ mild aortic or ≥ moderate mitral regurgitation) and changes in regurgitant grade at each heart valve were evaluated. Possible associations between weight or body mass index change and valvulopathy were explored. New valvulopathy was present in 2.04% of placebo and 2.37% of lorcaserin recipients at 52 weeks (risk difference, 0.33%; 95% confidence interval, -0.46 to 1.13; risk ratio, 1.16 [all patients with sufficient echocardiographic data, last-observation-carried-forward imputation] or 1.03 [patients who completed 52 weeks]). Changes in weight and body mass index were negatively associated with presence of valvulopathy at week 52 (P=0.02 and P=0.04, respectively); a 5% decrease in weight was associated with an odds ratio of 1.15 for Food and Drug Administration-defined valvulopathy. Most changes in regurgitation were ±1 grade in both treatment groups at all heart valves.ConclusionsIn 3 prospective placebo-controlled trials with integrated data for 5249 patients, the rate of echocardiographic valvulopathy was similar with lorcaserin and placebo. Point estimates for risk ratios ranged from 1.03 to 1.16 and may be at least partially influenced by greater weight loss in the lorcaserin group than in the placebo group.Clinical Trial RegistrationURL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifiers: NCT00395135, NCT00603291, NCT00603902.

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