AHS Views

While the side effects of GlaxoSmithKline’s weight loss drug, Alli, might not include anything that leads to the need for addiction help, it does cause some problems that might make you never want to leave home again. Check out the company’s wordage of the side effects of Alli, and Jeff Kay’s interpretation.

When GlaxoSmithKline released it Alli, it became very popular, very fast. The major reason, if course, is that the U.S. has more obese people than anywhere else in the world. The second reason is that weight loss drugs have a really bad history. Basically, they’ve been amphetamines - with serious side effects, including addiction and the need for addiction help, and death.

High on the success of Alli and anxious to maintain their competitive edge, GlaxcoSmithKline recently petitioned the FDA to require that all products claiming an ability to help the user lose weight be considered a drug. Which means that any other company trying to put a drug product out there that could be competition for Alli could take years to get onto the market. So, what about natural weight loss products? They will probably also be taken off the market until they get FDA approval if GlaxoSmithKline’s petition is approved.

According to lawyersandsettlements.com, as of 2006 “Glaxo currently faces thousands of lawsuits over Paxil side effects related to addiction, dependence, and a severe withdrawal syndrome. Previously sealed documents and internal company memos suppressed with protective orders, prove that Glaxo knew about the problems with Paxil before it received FDA approval, but continued to sell the drug for over a decade without warning consumers.”

So, is there something the company is hiding about Alli? Should we be expecting to hear that it is also going to require addiction help services? And should we really trust such a company with what will basically amount to at least a short term monopoly on anything? Can we even trust the information Glaxo included in its petition to the FDA? Time will tell.