Word: redux
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...months. People are dropping 20 lbs. or more in a matter of weeks. And it's not through willpower or exotic diets or Olympian exercise routines, but largely because, for the first time in their lives, they have simply lost interest in eating. The reason for this astonishing transformation: Redux, approved by the FDA last April as the first new diet drug in the U.S. in 23 years...
Naturally, these remarkable results have created a great buzz. Word of mouth is big in some circles in Southern California, for example, where washboard abs and buns of steel are practically residency requirements. National weight-loss clinics, including Jenny Craig and Nutri/System, are scrambling to work Redux into their programs. Last week Sheldon Levine, a New Jersey diet doctor, began a high-profile nationwide publicity campaign to flog his new book, The Redux Revolution (Morrow; $20), a 222-page paean to what is being promoted as "the most important weight-loss discovery of the century...
...same time, physicians, including thousands of general practitioners, are being chatted up by sales agents for Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, a division of American Home Products, which is marketing Redux. And in October, according to doctors and industry analysts, the company will begin a widespread advertising campaign to promote the drug directly to the public. (The company begs to differ: it claims it is planning only to "educate" the public about obesity.) Just three months after the introduction of Redux, doctors are writing 85,000 prescriptions a week. Says David Crossen, an analyst for Montgomery Securities in San Francisco: "What...
...drug that's new only in a sense. In fact, Redux is essentially just a refined version of a compound called fenfluramine, which is usually taken along with another drug, phentermine, in a combination known popularly as fen/phen. Like fenfluramine, Redux stimulates the production and availability of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is responsible for, among other things, the physical and emotional sense of being satisfied, of having had enough. Serotonin also triggers a more general feeling of well-being (antidepressants like Prozac work on the serotonin system as well); some experts think the mood-elevating effect...
...willpower. "Some people will need to take [weight-control] medications all their life, just as some need to take medication for hypertension," says Dr. Michael Hamilton, director of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center at Duke University. That could be an expensive proposition: a month's worth of Redux is expected to cost $75. Some who can improve their eating and exercise habits, Hamilton suggests, may eventually be able to wean themselves from the pills...