Use of Weight Loss Drugs & Pharmacology
to Treat Obese Patients and Improve Weight Control
Anti-Obesity Drugs
Obesity or severe overweight requires long-term
treatment in order to achieve lasting weight loss and control. As in other
chronic conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, long-term
use of prescription medications may be appropriate for some obese patients.
That said, only Orlistat/Xenical and Sibutramine/Meridia weight loss drugs
are approved by the FDA for long-term use. In addition, like all medications,
anti-obesity drugs can have side-effects. Most are mild, but some serious
complications have been reported.
Above all, remember that these anti-obesity
drugs are not a cure-all. The use of weight-loss medications should be
combined with physical activity and improved diet to lose and maintain
weight successfully over the long term.
Should You Use Anti-Obesity Drugs?
Using prescription drugs to treat
obesity may be an option for the following overweight patients:
- People with a 30+ body mass index
(BMI) with no obesity-related conditions.
- People with a 27+ BMI with two
or more obesity-related conditions.
What Drugs Are Used to Treat Obesity?
Currently, most anti-obesity drugs are
approved by the FDA for short-term use, meaning a few weeks or months.
Most available anti-obesity drugs are appetite-suppressant
medications. These include: Didrex,
Tenuate, Sanorex, Mazanor,
Adipex and Meridia.
These medications generally come in the form of tablets or extended-release
capsules (pills that release medication over a long period of time). Appetite
suppressants can be obtained by a doctor's prescription or purchased over-the-counter.
In the mid 1990s doctors prescribed the
popular appetite suppressant Redux or the combination of phentermine and
fenfluramine, called "Phen-fen." However fenfluramine (Pondimin)
and Redux were withdrawn from the market in 1997 because they caused damage
to heart valves. Phentermine is still available. Taking phentermine alone
has not been associated with the adverse health effects of the fenfluramine-phentermine
combination.
Another type of prescription weight loss
drug is a fat absorption inhibitor. Xenical
is the only example of this type of treatment approved for use in the
U.S. Xenical works by blocking about 30 percent of dietary fat from being
absorbed, and is the most recently approved weight loss drug
Meridia and Xenical are the only weight-loss
medications approved for longer-term use in significantly obese people,
although the safety and effectiveness have not been established for use
beyond 1 year. |
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