Dear friends,
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested
labeling change for the newly approved appetite suppressant drug
dexfenfluramine (Redux) with regard to its association with pulmonary
hypertension, a rare but serious and life-threatening lung disorder.
Today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (N Engl J Med
1996;335:609-16) reports the study which linked the derivatives of
fenfluramine to this serious side effect. There is an accompanying
editorial which plays down the adverse effect of this kind of appetite
suppressants. Incidentally the authors failed to disclose the Journal
editors that they had served as paid consultants to the manufacturers of
the drug and the Journal is investigating the issue (Those who have
access to the world wide web can access the Journal at
http://www.nejm.org and read the details)
I thought this info would be useful to list members.
Syed Rizwanuddin Ahmad
Researcher
Drug Safety, Education and Information
P.O.Box 5750
Washington, DC 20016-1350, USA
Email: srahmad@essential.org