America's first new fat-fighting prescription drug in more than 20 years has been on sale for just five months, but more than 1.2 million prescriptions have been written for it and its sales total more than $20 million a month.
That's good news for the drug's marketer, American Home Products Corp.
But according to a recent investigative article in the Wall Street Journal, some doctors say the company's aggressive marketing campaign is underplaying the drug's serious health risks, exaggerating its benefits, and adding fuel to a Redux craze among people who shouldn't take it at all. When the Food and Drug Administration granted approval of Redux on April 29, it imposed a tight restriction: The drug must be marketed only for use by "morbidly obese" patients who are overweight by 20 percent to 30 percent or more.
But American Home markets Redux far beyond the ranks of obesity specialists. It is pitching the drug to family physicians, psychiatrists, cardiologists, internists, even gynecologists who are less likely to be familiar with the drug or the treatment of obesity. (AHPC, 201/660-5000)