A well-known slimming drug taken by many women has been withdrawn from shelves over fears that it triggers heart attacks and strokes.
A review of the pill Sibutramine, done by the US regulatory body Food and Drug Administration (FDA), says that it is potentially dangerous and that anyone taking it should seek alternative ways of losing weight.
Sibutramine has been in use in India since 1999. The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has now decided to take up the FDA review with an expert group. “If there is a problem with drug it will be called off,” a DCGI official said.
According Keshav R, a senior cardiologist at Vivus hospital, Sibutramine has been under suspicion for long. “Consuming such drugs for a long while leads to side effects like depression, suicidal tendencies, strokes and heart attacks,” he said.
However, in Bangalore, anti-obesity drugs are available in only a handful of pharmacies, he added.“Anti-obesity drugs are only effective when taken for life-long. However, knowing the side effects, doctors rarely prescribe these drugs and even when they do, they ask the patient to discontinue after a month or two” said Dr Keshav.
The FDA has also sounded out a counterfeit warning for the Glaxo SmithKline slimming drugAlli (60 mg capsules).
Glaxo SmithKline — the maker of the FDA-approved over-the-counter weight-loss product — has said that the counterfeit version does not contain orlistat, the active ingredient in its product.
Consumers had started sending in adverse remarks about Alli capsule from early December 2009.
The counterfeit product contained the controlled substance Sibutramine, which according to doctors should be used only on the advice of experts.
The company has claimed that the product is being sold over the Internet, which exposes a vast population to the risk of the spurious drug.
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