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Drug Development Fat Blocker Anti-Obesity Drug Launched in United Kingdom.World Disease Weekly Plus (Oct 5, 1998):NA.Copyright 1998 Charles W Henderson
An anti-obesity drug that works by reducing fat absorption in the body was launched in Britain.
Doctors said a two-year clinical trial showed that Xenical, plus a reduced fat diet, helped obese people lose more than 10 percent of their body weight in one year.
"Xenical produces and maintains clinically significant weight loss," Dr. Nick Finer, a consultant endocrinologist, told a news conference to launch the treatment.
Unlike slimming pills that suppress the appetite, Swiss drugs giant Roche Holding' "fat blocker" drug is an approach to treating obesity, a condition that affects tens of millions of people worldwide.
Pencil, known generically as orlistat, works in the gut where it prevents absorption of 30 percent of dietary fat. Too much fat in the diet and lack of exercise are the main causes of obesity.
But doctors said that Xenical was not a wonder drug, or the Viagra for obesity, and would be available only on prescription for obese people who must take it with a reduced fat diet.
"Obesity is now being recognized as a medical problem. We are now being given the tools to do something useful about it," said Professor Gareth Williams, University of Liverpool, in northwest England. "We have to do this as part of a plan," he added.
People are prescribed the drug only if they are clinically obese and have lost 2.5kg(5.5 pounds) over four consecutive weeks on a special Medical Action Plan designed as part of the treatment.
Roche denied media reports that Xenical would cost Britain's government-funded National Health Service (NHS) 700 million pounds ($1.18 billion), more than Pfizer's impotence drug Viagra, if most of the nation's 7.5 million obese adults received it.
"We don't anticipated it being anywhere near the number," Vic Ackerman, Roche U.K., told reporters.
He added that the company expected that less than five percent of obese people in Britain would be eligible to receive Xenical.
In September 1998, Britain's Department of Health banned doctors from prescribing Viagra on the health service because of financial concerns. There are no restrictions on the obesity treatment, but the British Medical Association called for government guidelines on who should receive it.
