European regulators recommend approval of Orexigen's obesity pill

(Reuters) - European regulators recommended the approval of Orexigen Therapeutics Inc's diet pill, which could become the first prescription medicine for obesity to be approved in the European Union in nearly a decade. The drug, sold as Contrave by partner Takeda Pharmaceutical Co in the United States, will be marketed as Mysimba in Europe. The European Commission is expected to give its decision on the drug in early 2015, Orexigen said. The treatment, which won U.S. approval in September, is a combination of the antidepressant bupropion and Orexigen's formulation of naltrexone, designed to prevent drug dependence. The third obesity treatment in more than a decade to win approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the drug looks poised to enter Europe before its competitors, Vivus Inc's Qsymia and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc's Belviq. The La Jolla, California-based company's shares were up about 3.5 percent in light premarket trading on Friday. It closed at $6.29 on the Nasdaq on Thursday. (Reporting by Natalie Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Siddharth Cavale and Don Sebastian)