13 Comments

I was a member of the FDA advisory committee that voted against approving lorcaserin (Belviq) in the first round. These meetings are public and there were quite a few people there who were investors of some kind in the drug (not from the company, just individuals who somehow had some kind of investment, like buying stock) and were angered by the vote against approval.. Just after the meeting ended, one of them came up and threatened a committee member! I think the FDA had to get security for the next meeting.

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Oh, the evil that some companies do!

In 1997 I was working with a guy who started on Fen-Phen, just before the drug was pulled. I recall

that his regular doc refused to prescribe it & he found another who would. Unfortunately, after a

few months, maybe 3 or so, he developed some serious problems -- after all these years, the poor guy

still has the heart problems caused by Fen-Phen, and he weighs just about what he did to begin with.

So - a real screw up: he's nowhere near as healthy as he was at the start, and he never lost any of

the weight that he wanted to be rid of. If only there had been more material like your research,

Ragen, facts that could enable people to make really informed decisions. Will we ever know how many

people were permanently damaged by ALL the diet drugs?

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Oy!!! This brings back memories! My mom started me on Fen-Phen when I was in middle school. We were in the lucky 2/3 that didn’t have any serious side effects, but I think a lot now about how risky that was!

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Like Barbara, love this series and was recently pushed by my cardiologist after a serious heart diagnosis, to lose weight, and the push was toward bariatric surgery, or, if not that, Ozempic. I’m really interested in reading more.

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Hi! I am enjoying your newsletter and have to say that I too have been on many of the PILLS that was mentioned. I am eager to see what has been revealed about WEGOVY/OZEMPIC because a Dr, and 3 Physician Assistants wants me to get on it along with METFORMIN. Because of my morbid obesity

@ 310lbs and 5'3". Reading your email has given me more doubts and has assured my SUSPICIONS about ALL OF THESE MEDICATIONS but am at a lost as to WHAT TO DO ABOUT my DISORDERED EATING!

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Thank you for this overview/series!

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It's important to realize that these weight-loss drugs are used mostly by women and often by women with BMI levels below 25, who can also be harmed. In fact, it could be argued that younger women who are not particularly fat are an important target for such drugs.

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