Reports: Alli Linked to Liver Damage; FDA Investigating

By , SparkPeople Blogger
Alli, the only U.S. FDA-approved nonprescription weight-loss drug, is under investigation by the agency after more than 30 reports of liver damage in patients taking the pills.

The FDA, after much criticism over its slow public notification after problems with other drugs, now notifies consumers sooner of any reported side effects.
It's important to note that while the reports are being investigated, the FDA has not advised consumers to stop taking Alli or halted sales, as it did with the dietary supplement Hydroxycut back in May. The reports are preliminary.

According to the Associated Press:

"Regulators said Monday they have received more than 30 reports of liver damage in patients taking alli and Xenical, the prescription version of the drug. The reports, submitted between 1999 and October 2008, included 27 hospitalized patients, and six who suffered liver failure.

Alli and Xenical are both marketed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC, though Xenical is manufactured by Swiss firm Roche.
The FDA says it has not established a direct relationship between the weight loss treatments and liver injury, and advised patients to continue using the drugs as directed."

Alli is a fat blocker. You take a pill with each meal. The main ingredient in the pill binds with the digestive enzymes that would normally break down fat from the meal that you consumed. Because Alli attaches to these enzymes, it prevents them from digesting about a quarter of the fat you just ate, allowing it to pass through the digestive system and out of the body, undigested and unabsorbed. Overall, fewer calories from dietary fat are stored as actual body fat.

(Read SparkPeople's article about Alli.)

Have you ever taken Alli? Would you?