[tocomment]

Couldn't another part of the problem simply be lack of marketing for these drugs?

Everyone is aware there are goto drugs to toenail fungus and restless leg syndrome from all of the commercials. Shouldn't drugs like these that apply to even more people be all over the airwaves?

[rubberband]

I suppose it is potentially, but I have to assume that the people in the pharmaceutical industry understand which drugs they should market (and how, and when) to make the most money. To me it seems that "diet drugs" would basically print money from them, but my point is I believe there is a reason for them doing what they are doing, and that if they calculated they would make that much money, you better believe that they would pour truckloads of money into advertising.

Still, it just seems so odd, given the rather... large potential market.

[refurb]

This is actually a relevant point. Both Qnexa and Belviq were only recently approved. The companies who got them approved are pretty small and don't have the backing of a massive pharma company to help them with marketing.

In fact, the maker of Qnexa, Vivus, has had 3 CEOs over the past year and they are getting a lot of flack from shareholders over not putting in enough effort to market the drug.