SIBUTRAMINE: A NEW WEIGHT-LOSS DRUG
Report #7284
The Food and Drug Administration has withdrawn two diet drugs, fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, because they may cause heart and lung damage, so now they have approved another drug to help people lose weight, called sibutramine that works just like the common antidepressants, Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.
When combined with a low-fat diet and an exercise program, Sibutramine helps people lose 5 to 10% of their weight. You feel hunger when brain levels of a neurotransmitter called Serotonin are low. Any drug that raises brain levels of serotonin will help to make you feel full and eat less. Fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, the drugs that are associated with lung and heart damage, cause certain cells called platelets to release large amounts of serotonin into the bloodstream. This can cause lung and heart damage. Sibutramine is different from fenfluramine because it does not increase the release of serotonin into the bloodstream. It acts mainly in the brain to keep the brain from breaking down serotonin, keeping serotonin levels high and suppressing appetite. However, Most of the drugs used to treat depression do exactly the same thing. They're called serotonin reuptake inhibitors. So, it may turn out that sibutramine, the new drug to treat obesity is similar to antidepressants: Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.
By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News
Reported 11/2/97, checked 8/9/05; for a current recommendation see report #N117.