Word: redux
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...conditional approval, though, is based on the assumption that Redux will be doled out by well-informed physicians and will be used as intended--by the truly obese, for a limited time, in conjunction with a diet and exercise program. That seems rather naive, considering the history of fen/phen. In the four years since the older treatment has been on the market, clinics have sprung up all over the U.S., especially in the Los Angeles area, to distribute Redux to eager customers. One chain alone, California Weight Loss Medical Associates, has 19 centers and a catchy toll-free number...
That doesn't mean the FDA has declared Redux to be entirely safe. As a condition of approval, the agency is requiring Wyeth-Ayerst to do follow-up testing. "We're concerned," says Bilstad, "that there could be subtle effects that you can pick up only in a clinical study." Among the possibilities: troubling changes in mood, like depression and aggressiveness, that might derive from a serotonin deficit...
...legally binding on FDA Commissioner David Kessler. Last December 22 neuroscientists, including Seiden and Dr. George Ricaurte of Johns Hopkins, asked the FDA to "forgo a final decision on dexfenfluramine until more information is available on its serotonin-neurotoxic potential in humans." Nevertheless, Kessler gave the go-ahead for Redux last spring...
Predictably, they have started to do the same with Redux. "In Europe," says Dr. Stuart Rich, a cardiologist at Chicago's Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center and a co-author of the recent New England Journal study, "the majority of people who have taken Redux were looking to lose 10 lbs. to 20 lbs. You can just imagine how popular this medication is going to be here...
Most weight-loss experts insist that the reason diet and exercise don't work is that people don't stick with them. But because fen/phen and Redux can be dangerous if they're used too long, and they lose their effectiveness after a few months anyway, patients will eventually have to take up regular exercise and change their eating habits. Neither fen/phen nor Redux alone can "cure" obesity...