Big pharma

New trials are underway for a drug called Betahistine. A recent pilot study of 20 volunteers showed a weight loss of almost 4lbs per week for three months. That's as much as a 16 pound (~7kg) loss in a month.

The University of Connecticut surveyed 3,500 people and found that "70 percent of Americans who are trying to lose weight are following their own diet plans and have no interest in seeking a doctor's help." (via).

The president of the American Obesity Association believes that the future of obesity is drugs. Define obesity as a disease, and big pharma will fall over themselves to prescribe a drug cure.

In a superb article, Wired magazine delves deeply into the insidious promotion of obesity as a disease and how the pharmaceutical companies are heavily involved in the lobbying.

Start making too many comments about "Big Pharma" and people think you're a conspiracy theorist. However - it's right to be a little suspicious about the pharmaceutical industry. The amounts of money poured into drug marketing are so huge as to be incomprehensible.

It becomes all too easy to gloss over the worst side effects - such as a recent death linked to Sibutramine (Meridia).

Alli (pronounced Ally) is the brand name for over-the-counter Xenical. While not yet approved - it may be very close. The brand is owned by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) who paid over $100 million for the US rights to Alli (the prescription version of Xenical is made by Roche).

The US diet industry is huge and the marketing for Alli has begun.