DIET DRUG OFF THE MENU AFTER 3 DEATHS IN ITALY

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Mar 17, 2002 | by JOHN KELLY

ONE OF Ireland's most popular fat-busting drugs has been blamed for THREE deaths in Italy, it was revealed yesterday.

The prescription-only Reductil was withdrawn and declared unsafe by Italian health officials after three women died recently.

The drug was granted a licence in Ireland in July last and, in its first six months on the market, GPs prescribed 12,000 doses of the slim-pill.

Italian health officials said they had taken the precautionary measure after reports of serious side-effects in at least 50 cases since the drug was introduced in the country last April.

Symptoms have included irregular heart-beat, high blood pressure, as well as psychological and intestinal problems.

A spokesman for the Irish Medicines Board, which licences drugs in Ireland, said: "We have no plans to take it off the market but we urge the following advice: it should only be prescribed as part of a long-term integrated approach to treatment of obesity, by physicians.

"The IMB advised at the time of its introduction that Reductil should only be prescribed by physicians experienced in the treatment of obesity and a number of precautions must be taken into account in prescribing or using the drug. Patients should take it strictly according to its indication."

Reductil is the brand name of the drug sibutramine which is sold by Abbott Laboratories in Ireland.

It suppresses the appetite in the brain in people and is prescribed to people with serious obesity problems.

The Italian health ministry ordered a halt to sibutramine sales after it learned that three women, aged 28, 40, and 45, had died after their doctors prescribed the drug for them.

The manufacturers said sibutramine has been used by more than 8.6 million people since it was first introduced in 1997 and is registered in more than 70 countries.

The 50 problematic cases in Italy occurred in a total of some 60,000-70,000 patients, they said.

A spokesman for Abbott in Ireland said: "Abbott is fully confident in the safety and efficacy of sibutramine. Since it was first approved in 1997, more than 8.5 million people in more than 70 countries have used sibutramine for the management of obesity."

Ireland's other popular slimming drug, Xenical, works by blocking fat from being absorbed into the body instead of affecting the brain, suppressing the chemicals that cause hunger.

The drug is so popular in Ireland it is being given to a group of overweight soldiers in a bid to help them slim down.