Eisai, Arena Must Face Woman’s Suit Linking Diet Drug to Cancer

Eisai Inc. and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. lost their bids to dismiss most claims by a New York woman who alleges their withdrawn diet drug Belviq caused her thyroid cancer, but a federal court found fraud claims unsupported.

Belviq, jointly launched by the companies in the U.S. in 2012, was intended to reduce appetite by increasing feelings of fullness. Jennifer Reynolds-Sitzer used the weight-loss drug in 2016.

Reynolds-Sitzer adequately pleaded design defect claims, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York said Wednesday.

She alleged a safer alternative to Belviq existed and that the drug posed a substantial ...