Are we done with diet drugs?

Bonnie - not a chance. They will keep coming because for Big Pharma, finding a drug solution to weight is the holy grail.

Abbott Laboratories has withdrawn the obesity drug sibutramine (Meridia) from the market in light of clinical trial data pointing to an increased risk for stroke and myocardial infarction, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today. The study, called the Sibutramine Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial (SCOUT), demonstrated a 16% increase in the risk for serious cardiovascular events such as nonfatal heart attack, nonfatal stroke, the need for resuscitation after the heart stopped, and death in a cohort of patients given sibutramine compared with another given a placebo. The FDA is advising physicians to stop prescribing sibutramine and for patients to stop taking it and talk to their healthcare provider about alternative weight-loss regimens.

Other prescription drugs for short-term weight loss include phentermine and diethylpropion. Orlistat is available in both an over-the-counter form (Alli; GlaxoSmithKline) and prescription form (Xenical; Hoffman-La Roche) at a higher dose. Last May, the FDA revised the label for both versions of orlistat to warn about rare cases of severe liver injury associated with the drug.

In a related action, the FDA warned consumers today not to use a weight-loss product called Slimming Beauty Bitter Orange Slimming Capsules, sold over the Internet, because they contain sibutramine. The drug is not listed on the product label. The drug is likely still present in many households, via weight-loss nutritional supplements containing undeclared prescription-strength ingredients and other contaminants. While the FDA has warned about weight-loss supplements containing prescription medicines such as sibutramine, many are still available via the internet, mostly from overseas suppliers.

Bonnie - I have been a vociferous detractor of most ingredients added to weight-loss supplements. Even the ingredients considered "natural" can have major side effects. There are only a few options that I recommend, but must be administered on an individualized basis.