The Motley Fool's health-care show Market Checkup focuses this week on obesity, one of America's largest health-care concerns. Recently classified as a disease, obesity leads to serious health problems including diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Currently 35% of adults in the U.S. are classified as obese, but more troubling, one out of three children is as well. All told, obesity adds $190 billion in medical costs to the system, but efforts to tackle this growing problem are increasing.
In this video, health-care analysts David Williamson and Max Macaluso discuss Arena Pharmaceuticals, maker of Belviq, the first new obesity drug approved in more than a decade. Arena just launched Belviq after a long period of DEA scheduling, but can it avoid the pitfalls and struggles that have weighed heavily on its chief competitor? Watch and find out.
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