Topiramate in Adolescents With Severe Obesity

The prevalence of severe pediatric obesity is on the rise and youth with this condition are at elevated risk for developing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Topiramate, a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of seizures in adults and children, is associated with weight loss. Although not FDA approved for the treatment of obesity, studies in obese adults have demonstrated weight reduction of approximately 5% with 6-12 months of therapy. However, the weight loss effect of topiramate has never been evaluated among children and adolescents. Therefore, the goal of this pilot study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of 24 weeks of topiramate therapy with a 4-week run-in of meal replacement therapy in adolescents with severe obesity. The primary hypothesis is that 4 weeks of meal replacement therapy followed by 24 weeks of topiramate will have a larger average percent decline in BMI between baseline and 28 weeks compared to meal replacement therapy followed by placebo.