Drug taken off market due to medical negligence fears
In a bid to reduce medical negligence, a leading obesity drug has been suspended from use in the UK.
Fears of compensation claims being made by patients led to the decision of the drug being taken off shelves.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has told doctors to cease prescribing sibutramine and review its use in patients already taking it, after worries that it could cause personal injury such as strokes and heart attacks.
The regulator noted that the drug has been used by 86,000 people in the past year. The medication works by altering chemical messages to the brain which controls cravings for food.
While it is a common obesity drug, the most popular, orlistat, a pill which prevents fat absorption, is much more widely used and is taken by hundreds of thousands of people each year.
The regulator acted after a review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended suspending its licence in Europe. This decision still has to be officially endorsed by the European Commission.
Speaking after the EMA's decision, Eugene Sun, from Abbott which makes sibutramine, said: "We believe there are many patients who benefit from sibutramine and respectfully disagree with the... recommendation to suspend the medicine. However, we will act promptly to comply with the committee's recommendation."
But Dr June Raine, of the MHRA, said the drug was dangerous: "Evidence suggests that there is an increased risk of non-fatal heart attacks and strokes with this medicine that outweigh the benefits of weight loss, which is modest and may not be sustained in the long term after stopping treatment.
"Prescribers are advised not to issue any new prescriptions and to review the treatment of patients taking the drug. Pharmacists are asked to cease dispensing the medicine.
"People who are currently taking sibutramine are advised to make a routine appointment with their doctor to discuss alternative measures to lose weight. There are no health implications if people wish to stop treatment before seeing their doctor."
Obesity surgery rationed
In similar news, it has been revealed that the NHS will ration obesity surgery to only the most extreme cases, in an attempt to save money.
However, this act could in fact hinder the service because patients who remain obese develop greater difficulties later in life and thus require treatment.
Speakers at a conference at the Royal College of Surgeons stated that the practice was therefore "inconsistent, unethical and completely dependent on geographical location."
Guidelines by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence say patients with a body mass index of 40 or above should be referred straight away for surgery while those with a BMI of between 35 and 40 who have other conditions such as type 2 diabetes should also be referred.
But surgeons said in some areas primary care trusts, which pay for treatment of patients in their geographical area, are rationing the treatment to those with a BMI of 50 or even 60.
Professor Mike Larvin, a bariatric surgeon and Director of Education at the Royal College of Surgeons, said: "Nice guidelines are meant to signal the end of postcode lotteries, yet local commissioning groups are choosing not to deliver on obesity surgery.
"In many regions the threshold criteria are being raised to save money in the short term meaning patients are being denied life-saving and cost effective treatments and effectively encouraged to eat more in order to gain a more risky operation further down the line."
Updated on 25/01/2010