When an FDA panel voted against a risky new diet drug last summer, I warned that we hadn’t heard the last of that one.

I only wish I was wrong… but my prediction has come true already.

The drug is called Qnexa, and don’t be fooled by any “new” research you might have heard about: The study just published in the Lancet is the same old study that got the drug rejected before, just wearing a different suit.

In it, researchers claim patients who took the drug for a year lost an average of 22 pounds, lowered their cholesterol levels and brought their blood pressure down.

But last year, the feds combined this data with the results of a second study — both funded by the company — and concluded that the med didn’t offer much in the belly-shrinking department.

In fact, according to the LA Times, the FDA concluded that the difference between Qnexa and a placebo was “of nominal statistical significance.”

What’s more, the company admits that anyone who does manage to lose weight on the drug may have to keep taking it forever if they hope to keep it off.

You know who benefits from that, right? The drug company, of course — while each day you take the med is another day in which you run the risk of side effects… and the ones attached to Qnexa are a doozy.

In a study I told you about last year, 40 percent of the patients who took the drug dropped out of the study — and when you read the details in the Lancet, it’s not hard to see why.

The drug’s side effects include a “pins and needles” feeling, dry mouth, constipation, insomnia, a distorted sense of taste, depression, anxiety and the dizzies.

But what would you expect from a drug that combines a powerful anticonvulsant with one of the active ingredients of fen-phen?

Do yourself a favor — don’t wait for Qnexa, which probably will win approval eventually.

Just lose weight the old-fashioned way: Eat better.

Instead of battling weird drug side effects, you might actually feel good for a change.

Imagine that.

Jack Forbush