Credit: Source: Wolf, A. M. & Colditz, G. A., Obes. Res. 6, 97–106 (1998)

For the first company to bring a potent weight-loss drug to the market, the rewards could be huge. Across the industrialized world, the prevalence of obesity is rising. Last month, the Worldwatch Institute in Washington DC reported that 1.1 billion people worldwide are now suffering from the health consequences of overconsumption — equal to the number plagued by hunger. In the United States alone, where more than one in three adults is classified as obese, the condition is estimated to cause 300,000 premature deaths each year. And, as these figures reveal, the associated burden of disease causes a significant annual dent in the US economy — both from the direct cost of treating conditions triggered by obesity, and from lost economic productivity.