Weight Loss Drugs Containing Orlistat Under European Scanner

Popular weight loss drugs Alli and Xenical have come under the scanner of the European drug regulator with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) stating that it will be reviewing all weight loss drugs that contain orlistat. The EMA revealed that it had to act following cases of severe liver injury among those who took drugs that contained orlistat. It went on to add that the risk of liver injury posed by such drugs was well known but new evidence directly linking severe liver injury to orlistat means that the agency will now look into whether the licenses for such medicines has to be changed to completely revoked.

“The European Medicines Agency has started a review of orlistat-containing anti-obesity medicines, to determine whether the very rare cases of hepatic injury have an impact on their benefit-risk profile and conditions of use”, the agency said in a statement.

Source-Medindia