Expect a long slog for diet drugs Qsymia, Belviq

Vivus ($VVUS) says its new diet drug Qsymia is now available in 8,000 retail pharmacies, putting it closer to patients. Arena Pharmaceuticals' ($ARNA) Belviq is finally on the market, and scripts are coming in. But this new generation of weight-loss pills still faces an uphill climb--despite the tantalizing size of the market.

As the New York Times reports, weight-loss pills still face the same old obstacles: reimbursement problems, safety worries, a once-burned-twice-shy feeling about diet pills in general. The American Medical Association may have decided that obesity is a disease, but many doctors see it...