The federal government is advising people who took the weight-loss drugs fenfluramine (Pondimin) and dexfenfluramine (Redux) to see their doctors and, in some cases, undergo a heart test, to determine whether they have developed heart or lung disease.
The recommendations, developed jointly by FDA, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health and published in the Nov. 14 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, followed the drugs' removal from the market in September. The drugs' manufacturer and marketer, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories and Interneuron Pharmaceuticals, withdrew the products at FDA's request after heart tests in five surveys indicated that about 30 percent of patients who took the drugs had heart valve abnormalities, even though most had no symptoms.
The Department of Health and Human Services advises people who have ever taken one or both of these drugs to see their doctors for a medical history and physical examination to check for a heart murmur, shortness of breath, or other signs of heart or lung disease. Patients who show such signs should undergo an echocardiogram, a test that uses sound waves to examine the inside of the heart.
Even if a patient has no symptoms of heart or lung disease, HHS advises an echocardiogram for all former fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine users before they undergo an invasive procedure for which the American Heart Association recommends antibiotic treatment for preventing bacterial endocarditis--a serious and potentially fatal infection of the heart's lining.
COPYRIGHT 1998 U.S. Government Printing Office
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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