SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Orexigen™ Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: OREX - News), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of central nervous system disorders, including obesity, today announced that a Notice of Allowance has been issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a patent application providing broad coverage of the use of zonisamide either alone or in combination with other drugs in the treatment of obesity. Zonisamide is an active constituent of Empatic™, a novel formulation of zonisamide sustained release (SR) paired with bupropion SR, for the treatment of obesity. The combination of these two drugs is designed to provide more clinically meaningful weight loss for patients by both initiating weight loss and sustaining it over a longer period of time. The Phase IIb clinical trial for Empatic was completed last year, and the Company plans to initiate another Phase IIb clinical trial for Empatic this year.
