Study findings question safety of anti-obesity drug

Oops.

"Patients taking the Sanofi-Aventis anti-obesity drug Acomplia, known generically as rimonabant, have well over double the risk of depression and anxiety, researchers said, adding to the bad news for a drug already linked to suicidal thoughts...

Danish researchers reviewed four studies featuring 4,105 patients and found that people taking 20 milligrams per day of the drug were 2.5 times more likely to discontinue treatment due to depressive disorders and three times more likely to stop because of anxiety than those who received a placebo.<"

How is it possible that medical intervention can have a downside?

Well at least someone cares.

"Salah Mahyahou, Sanofi's head of product communication, said caution raised about who should get Acomplia was in line with the firm's efforts' to ensure the medicine is not prescribed to patients with severe depression or on anti-depressive treatment.

'We believe the meta-analysis does not reveal any new data or any new evidence beyond what is already known by physicians or health authorities,' he said by telephone."

Oops. Again. Maybe not.

If you thought being fat made you depressed, think about the pills and no one at Big Pharma caring.

That should make you even more depressed.

Lose the weight.