Sustained-Action Phendimetrazine in Obesity

¹ Medical Service, Boston Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic; Senior Clinical Instructor in Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass.

Ninety adult males and females at least 10 per cent overweight were used as subjects in comparing phendimetrazine tartrate, 105 mg, sustained-action tablets (Plegine-S.A.) with a placebo in a double-blind non-crossover study over a period of 12 weeks. The subjects were on no specific diet, but reduction of caloric intake was stressed to achieve weight loss. The subjects were all seen at the end of six and 12 weeks of medication, the majority also at two, four, and nine weeks, when weight, blood pressure, pulse rate, and other relevant data were recorded. The action of the phendimetrazine lasted all day. as indicated by insomnia in ten of 45 subjects.

The patients on phendimetrazine averaged 0.62 pounds weight loss per week, those on placebo, 0.09 pounds. These weight differences were statistically significant at levels below .01 per cent. The commonest side effects with phendimetrazine were insomnia, dry mouth, lightheadedness, nervousness, thirst, urinary frequency, and gastrointestinal symptoms; two subjects developed urticaria. Side effects with placebo were similar, but much less frequent. Apart from urticaria, subjects quit phendimetrazine and placebo because of similar side effects. Two-thirds of those on placebo and one-third of those on phendimetrazine had no side effects. Sustained-action phendimetrazine tartrate, 105 mg, once a day appears to be an effective anorexigenic agent with relatively minimal side effects.

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