A Benefit-Risk Assessment of Sibutramine in the Management of Obesity

Obesity is a multifactorial, chronic disorder that has reached epidemic proportions in most industrialised countries and is threatening to become a global epidemic. Clinical management of obese patients is complex and serious doubts have arisen with regard to safety and efficacy of drug therapy. Following the withdrawal of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine in 1997, interest has focused on novel anti-obesity drugs. Pharmacological approaches to the management of obesity can, in broad terms, use different distinct strategies: firstly, to reduce energy intake; secondly, to increase energy expenditure; and thirdly, to alter the partitioning of nutrients between fat and lean tissue.