Sibutramine: current status as an anti-obesity drug and its future perspectives

Abstract

Background: Obesity has become a global epidemic with recent estimates of > 400 million obese adults. Despite this, there are few safe and effective pharmacological interventions for obesity. Sibutramine is a weight loss agent, for use as an adjuvant to a comprehensive program of calorie restriction, exercise and behavioral therapy. Objective: The goal of this article is to review the available literature of pharmacological interventions for obesity and specifically to examine data with sibutramine for the short term on safety and efficacy for weight loss. Methods: The literature on sibutramine was reviewed after a PubMed and Medline search in March 2008. All randomized clinical trails were reviewed. Results/conclusions: Sibutramine appears to be safe and effective in producing clinically significant weight loss for up to 1 year. Longer prospective clinical studies with sibutramine are needed to evaluate its safety (effect on blood pressure) and ability to maintain weight loss, improve metabolic profiles and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords::

• basal mass index
• cardiovascular diseases
• diabetes mellitus type 2
• dyslipidemia
• obesity
• orlistat
• overweight
• rimonabant
• sibutramine