Word: redux
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...does that make Redux, in its stylish sweater-striped capsule, the ideal drug for our look-good, feel-good era? Hardly. Like any other medication, Redux has side effects. Some are merely annoying: fatigue, diarrhea, vivid dreams, dry mouth. But some are patently dangerous. The drug has caused significant, possibly permanent brain damage in lab animals--though not, as far as anyone knows, in humans. It can trigger a rare but frequently fatal human disorder called primary pulmonary hypertension, which destroys blood vessels in the lungs and heart. European research on fen/phen shows that using such drugs for more than...
...risk, of course, and the still unquantified chance of brain damage have to be weighed against the danger of remaining fat, which is considerable. Severe obesity puts people at risk for heart disease, diabetes and some cancers, and in the U.S. contributes to 300,000 deaths each year. If Redux can help these people get thin, it might be worth the risk...
...merely overweight, though, Redux probably poses an unacceptable danger. While the drug is intended to be taken only by the clinically obese for a limited time, in conjunction with an ongoing diet and exercise program, there is no guarantee that this scenario will be followed. Predicts David Nichols, a Purdue University pharmacologist: "This drug will ultimately be overprescribed by every bumpkin doctor who has patients who perceive themselves to be slightly overweight...
...says, "because a couple of times when I went off it for a few days, it was almost like going off amphetamines." Moore had obtained the drug at a weight-loss clinic whose presiding doctor was rarely available to talk to patients. Such problems could be more widespread with Redux, which will be marketed not only to diet specialists but also to general practitioners--and the general public...
These dramatic results kicked off a fen/phen fad. But there were a few problems with the combination. Some patients still got drowsy, and others suffered from depression, loss of sexual appetite, headaches, diarrhea and dry mouth. The same serious medical problems now being ascribed to Redux--pulmonary hypertension and possible brain damage--began showing up as well. Moreover, fen/phen worked for only so long. Patients usually stopped losing weight after a few months and began to regain it once they stopped taking the drugs...