Naltrexone/Bupropion ER (Contrave)

164 P&T® • March 2016 • Vol. 41 No. 3 INTRODUCTION Obesity is becoming an increasingly serious and costly health problem in the United States, with more than one-third of adults (34.9%) and 17% of children suffering from this condition.1 Obesity is defi ned as having a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30, while being overweight is defi ned as having a BMI between 25 and 29.9.2 Besides being a psychological burden on the patient, obesity is associated with increased risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, and the development of certain types of cancers, including esophageal, pancreatic, colon, and breast cancers.3,4 Obesity represents a huge burden to the U.S. health care system—$147 billion was spent on obesity in 2008 alone. Health care costs for obese patients were on average $1,429 higher than for patients of normal weight.5 The physiological, psycholo gical, and fi nancial effects associated with obesity have pushed health care professionals to come up with appropriate solutions to manage obesity and achieve better health outcomes. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently added to the effort to curb obesity with the approval of medications for chronic weight management, including phentermine/topiramate