Orexigen presents data from Contrave trial at 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society

Orexigen® Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: OREX), today announced that Contrave® (naltrexone SR/bupropion SR) data will be presented in one oral and multiple poster presentations at the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society on October 3, 2011 in Orlando, FL.  The Company will present results from evaluations of the COR (Contrave Obesity Research) program data for predicted long-term outcomes as well as responder analyses of Contrave treatment.  Additionally, Orexigen will present results of a recently completed clinical trial assessing the impact of Contrave on certain neurobiological mechanisms that control the brain's response to food cues.

A presentation led by Robert Chilton, DO, FACC, Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, will discuss the impact of Contrave treatment on predicted 10-year cardiovascular (CV) outcomes as estimated using 1-year data from the Phase 3 COR program.  Multiple validated models utilizing different methodologies for evaluating CV risk were used to predict the long-term risk of CV disease, CV mortality, myocardial infarction and stroke with Contrave or placebo treatment.  A statistically significant three-fold reduction in predicted 10-year overall CV risk was observed with Contrave treatment compared to placebo.  These results are useful in predicting the potential impact of long-term treatment with Contrave and provide the Company with confidence in proceeding with the planned CV outcomes clinical trial.

"Weight loss results in improvements in cardiometabolic risk markers, and these data further corroborate the potential cardiovascular benefits of long term treatment with a weight loss therapy like Contrave," said Dr. Chilton." The consistency of the observations across the many risk equations utilized reinforces the robustness of the results."

An oral presentation by Gene-Jack Wang, MD, Chair of Brookhaven Laboratory's Medical Department, will outline neuroimaging data from a clinical study conducted in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory.  Changes in brain response to food cues with Contrave or placebo treatment were assessed using functional MRI imaging and showed that Contrave enhanced the activation of brain regions involved in inhibitory control, internal awareness, memory and cognition following exposure to food cues.  These results further support the postulated mechanism by which Contrave may help patients control food cravings.

SOURCE Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc.