Obesity is an epidemic to some and an opportunity to others. More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight. Find a way to battle obesity,【C1】_____a huge profit might be made. On February 22nd, 2013 one pharmaceutical firm, Vivus, took a small【C2】__towards this goal. A committee advising America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended Vivus’s diet drug, Qnexa.【C3】__, the pill’s long-awaited final approval may not come until April. The announcement mostly served as a reminder of a struggle which【C4】_____fat into gold.

Medical-device and pharmaceutical companies are quite【C5】_____treating the problems that come with obesity. However, they can’t help consumers【C6】__weight. Allergan, a device-maker, has tried to use its gastric bands to enter the obesity market. The band is fitted near the top of patients’ stomach, which helps them feel full【C7】__during the meal. Allergan has captured about 70％ of the worldwide market for gastric bands, but sales are now【C8】__. The recession has sapped consumers’ desire for expensive surgery. Some patients have【C9】__bands removed because they slipped or proved【C10】__. In January David Pyott, Allergan’s chief executive, said he would cancel an effort to market the band for teenagers. He is now trying to convince insurers of the gastric band’s【C11】_____.

Drug companies have had even more【C12】_____than device-makers. It has been 13 years since the FDA approved a【C13】__diet pill. That drug, Roche’s Xenical, has【C14】__side-effects. The FDA rejected Vivus’s Qnexa in 2010 over【C15】_____for the safety of pregnant women and the quickening of patients’ heart rates. However, Vivus’s new data in 2013 apparently satisfied the FDA’s advisory committee.

But the agency may yet【C16】_____the drug.【C17】__Qnexa is approved, it is unclear that patients will buy it. Qnexa【C18】__two medicines that are already on the market. Both medicines are generic, which means that doctors may【C19】__the existing drugs rather than Qnexa’s more expressive version. For now, it is more【C20】_____to treat fat patients than to try to make them slim.

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