Published studies of the weight loss drug orlistat (Xenical and Alii) under-reported adverse events 3- to 33-fold compared to the number of investigator-reported adverse events even though six of seven papers stated that “all adverse events were recorded” according to an analysis of orlistat studies by Prof. Peter Gotzsche, MD and others from the Cochrane Collaboration.

Do you believe that this is also true for studies of cholesterol drugs (statins) and blood pressure drugs and diabetes drugs and antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills and bone-building drugs and acid-blocking drugs and every other drug out there?

Yes, of course it is.

I believe that drug-induced side effects are dramatically underreported in all drug studies sponsored by the drug companies.

This is just one example of this.

Read the entire article | Email this article

“For one trial [of the weight loss drug orlistat (Xenical, Alii)], we identified an additional 1,318 adverse events that were not listed or mentioned in the [clinical study reports] itself [or the published paper] but could be identified through manually counting individual adverse events reported in an appendix, ” according to an analysis of orlistat studies by Prof. Peter Gotzsche, MD and others from the Cochrane Collaboration.

Read the entire article | Email this article

“We discovered that the majority of patients [given the weight loss drug orlistat (Xenical, Alii)] had multiple episodes of the same adverse event that were only counted once, though this was not described in the [clinical study reports] [or the published paper],” according to an analysis of orlistat studies by Prof. Peter Gotzsche, MD and others from the Cochrane Collaboration.

Read the entire article | Email this article

“We also discovered that participants treated with orlistat experienced twice as many days with adverse events as participants treated with placebo… Furthermore, compared with the placebo group, adverse events in the orlistat group were more severe... [however] None of this was stated in the [clinical study reports] or in the published paper,” according to an analysis of orlistat studies by Prof. Peter Gotzsche, MD and others from the Cochrane Collaboration.

Read the entire article | Email this article

Orlistat, which is the active ingredient found in the weight loss drugs Xenical and Alli, inhibits a key enzyme, increases toxicity of the liver and kidneys, and reduces effectiveness of some anti-cancer drugs according to a study by Professor Bingfang Yan which was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Yan notes that this inhibition occurs with a low level of the drug.

He also notes that “Since it has been available over–the-counter, there has been a drastic increase of toxicity among patients using the drug,” Yan said.

“It has been linked to severe liver failure, acute pancreatic failure and acute renal (kidney) failure.”

Read the entire article | Email this article

People given either 2.4 mg or 3 mg of liraglutide per day maintained a weight loss of 17.6 lbs after two (2) years according to a recent study from Denmark. Liraglutide (brand name Victoza) is a human GLP-1 analog that is a once-daily injectable medication. Read the entire article | Email this article

People given 3 mg of liraglutide per day lost 8.4 lbs more after one (1) year than those given the fat-blocking drug, orlistat, according to a recent study from Denmark. Liraglutide (brand name Victoza) is a human GLP-1 analog that is a once-daily injectable medication. Read the entire article | Email this article

People given 3 mg of liraglutide per day lost 7.3 lbs more after two (2) years than those given the fat-blocking drug, orlistat, according to a recent study from Denmark. Liraglutide (brand name Victoza) is a human GLP-1 analog that is a once-daily injectable medication. Read the entire article | Email this article

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "is reviewing new safety information regarding reports of liver-related adverse events in patients taking orlistat. Orlistat is marketed in the United States as a prescription product, Xenical, and as an over-the-counter (OTC) product, Alli." Read the entire article | Email this article

Orlistat, which includes both the prescription drug Xenical and over-the--counter drug Alii, reduce secretion of appetite-reducing hormones in the gut, which could increase appetite according to a new study from researchers at St. Josef-Hospital at Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany. Read the entire article | Email this article

After being on store shelves for one year, GlaxoSmithKline said it sold 4 million kits of Alli (orlistat) in the US. Alli is the only over-the-counter weight loss drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Read the entire article | Email this article

The over-the-counter fat blocker, Alii (60 mg of orlistat), blocks the absorption of about 25 percent of dietary fat and causes a weight loss of about 5 percent of body weight in the first four months according to a review paper by J. W. Anderson from the University of Kentucky's College of Medicine in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

After patients had lost an average of 19.3 pounds with Xenical (orlistat) plus a reduced-calorie diet, half of them continued taking Xenical (120 mg of orlistat) three times per day plus a weight maintenance diet for another year, while the other half of patients were given Alli (60 mg of orlistat) instead. Weight loss at the end of the second year was 12.3 pounds for those who kept taking Xenical (120 mg of orlistat) versus 9.9 pounds for those given Alli (60 mg of orlistat) compared to 6.9 pounds for those who were switched from Xenical to a placebo. Read the entire article | Email this article

As a physician who has committed the past 15 years of my professional career to the medical treatment of overweight and obese patients, I feel the need to express my concern over Alli, the recently FDA approved OTC "fat blocker", and with GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical company who owns it.
Read the entire article | Email this article

Orlistat (Xenical and Alii) is a diet pill that prevents the absorption of approximately one-third of dietary fat. Studies lasting 3 months have found that it increases weight loss by approximately 0.4 lbs per week which is nearly as much as to 0.5 lbs seen with other prescription diet pills, however, it does not reduce appetite like other weight loss medications.
Read the entire article | Email this article

The fat-blocking drug orlistat (Xenical and Alii) increases weight loss by 4-5 pounds in three months according to two studies. Read the entire article | Email this article

The fat-blocking drug orlistat (Xenical and Alii) works by inhibiting three enzymes involved in the breakdown of dietary fat which allows fat to be absorbed -- gastric lipase, pancreatic lipase and pancreatic carboxylester lipase. Pancreatic lipase is the key enzyme required for the absorption of dietary fats. Gastric lipase triggers pancreatic lipase, and pancreatic carboxylester lipase is used in the absorption of fat soluble vitamins. Read the entire article | Email this article

On Thursday, Feb 7th, 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a low-dose version of orlistat capsules as an over-the-counter (OTC) weight loss aid for overweight adults. The drug will be produced by GlaxoSmithKline and called Alii. Read the entire article | Email this article

I received an email asking how effective lower doses of orlistat are, such as the 60 mg found in Alii (orlistat), compared to the 120 mg found in the prescription version, Xenical (orlistat). The research shows that 60 mg three times per day is nearly as effective as 120 mg. The research also shows that doses higher than 120 mg three times per day are no more effective. Read the entire article | Email this article