The European Commission has banned slimming medicines containing appetite depressing anorectic agents.
Its action follows advice from the European Medicines Evaluation Agency's Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products, which reported last year that that marketing authorisations for medicines should be withdrawn, where they contained amfepramone, phentermine, clobenzorex, fenproporex, mefenorex, norpseudoephedrine and phendimetrazine because they lacked efficacy resulting in an unfavourable risk/benefit ratio. The committee made the same recommendation for medicines containing fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, because of an unacceptable safety profile in normal conditions of use, lack of efficacy and a consequent unfavourable risk/benefit ratio.
Medicines containing fenbutrazate, mazindol, phenmetrazine and propylhexedrine have yet to secure European marketing approval and are not now expected to do so. United Kingdom product licences for affected products will be cancelled on April 9.