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FDA Panel Greenlights Obesity Pill

Xenical Headed Towards Over-the-Counter Sales

January 24, 2006

• CSPI Raps Nickelodeon Food Ads • New Study Links Inactivity to Desire for More Food • Researchers Suppress "Hunger Hormone" • Parents Can Shape Childrens' Eating Habits • Overweight Doesn't Always Mean Unhealthy • Exercise in a Pill? • Study: 86 Percent of Americans Could Be Obese by 2030 • Americans Becoming Even More Obese, CDC Says • New Guide Lists Calories in Beer, Wine, Cocktails • Experts Fact-Check 'McDonald's Diet' Story • Dementia Linked To Obesity • Study Ties Obesity, Inflammation to Heart Failure • Doctor Offers Antidote To 'Super-Size Me' Diet • Eating Disorders Widespread Among U.S. Women, Survey Finds • Obesity A More Costly Workplace Health Issue Than Smoking • A 'Healthy Weight' May Not Be So Healthy • Skipping Breakfast May Lead to Obesity • Obesity Blamed for Rising Stroke Rate in Women • Spanish Language TV Linked To Latino Child Obesity • Fast Food+Sedentary Lifestyle=Liver Damage • Artificial Sweeteners Linked to Weight Gain • Mississippi May Ban Restaurant Sales to the Obese • Eat Less or Exercise More? • Researchers Find 'Fat-Burner' Compounds • Obesity Linked to Decreased Seatbelt Use • Low-Calorie Food Prices Surge • Italian Restaurants Serve Up the Fat • Viral Infections May Promote Obesity • Brits Find Obesity Deadlier Than Smoking • Healthy Restaurants May Bring Out Bad Eating Habits • 'Bad Carbs' Not the Enemy, Researcher Argues • New Pill May Make Weight Loss Safer --- • Weight Loss News • Childhood Obesity

There are plenty of bogus diet pills on the market, but the Food and Drug Administration says it has found one that may actually work. An FDA advisory panel has recommended approval of an over-the-counter drug that reportedly helps the body block fat absorption.

The panel voted 11-3 to allow the sale of the drug orlistate without a doctor's prescription. A prescription form of the drug is already on the market, sold under the brand name Xenical.

If the FDA accepts the panel's recommendation, a 60-milligram version could be on the market by summer. It's a product of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, which plans to call the product Alli.

With roughly two thirds of Americans overweight, the market for a government-approved over the counter diet pill could be huge. However, even the drug company says consumers using the product should not depend on it alone to lose weight, but incorporate a healthy dose of diet and exercise into a weight loss plan.

Consumers also should not expect spectacular results. In six-month clinical trials, the overweight subjects who took the drug lost on average only 5.3 pounds to 6.2 pounds more than did those who were given dummy pills.

GlaxoSmithKline recommends the drug only be used in six-month intervals, but critics point out that, as an over-the-counter drug, people would be free to take as much of the drug as they want, as often as they want.

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