Losing weight conveniently, cheaply, safely. That's been the holy grail of weight-loss ever since 19th century English undertaker and weight-loss celebrity William Banting's 1863 Letter on Corpulence spruiked his "miraculous" method of slimming down.
Since then, humans have tried many things — diet, exercise, psychotherapy, surgery — to lose weight. But time and again we return to the promise of a weight-loss drug, whether it's a pill, injection or tonic. A "diet drug".
