EU drug regulator highlights depression danger of weight-loss pill

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

BRUSSELS (AFP) — The European drug regulator EMEA said Thursday it had maintained authorisation of weight-loss pill Acomplia in the European Union, but had ordered it to be withheld from people suffering from depression.

A panel of experts from the US Food and Drug Administration concluded in June that the dieting treatment, which can also be used to treat diabetes, was unsafe because it caused suicidal thoughts as a side-effect.

The maker of the drug, French group Sanofi-Aventis, abandoned attempts to win approval for the drug in the United States as a result.

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) recommended Thursday that Acomplia, also known as Rimonabant, should not be given to patients with depression or those taking anti-depressants because of the risk...