Med. praxi. 2010;7(3):145-147

Orlistat in obesity treatment

MUDr.RNDr.Tomáš Brychta, Ph.D.¹, MUDr.Svetlana Brychtová, Ph.D.²

¹ NZZ Centrum léčby diabetu a obezity, Olomouc

² Ústav patologické anatomie, LF UP Olomouc

Obezita je chronickým metabolickým onemocněním na patofyziologickém i genetickém základě. Toto onemocnění má své vážné zdravotní

Obesity is a chronic metabolic disease with a pathophysiological and genetic basis. This condition has serious health and economic

implications, recently having become the second leading cause of death, second only to smoking. Obesity treatment should be comprehensive

and include, in addition to diet and physical activity and behavioural changes, pharmacotherapy and, possibly, bariatric surgery.

Currently, two agents are recommended for long-term management of obesity, namely sibutramine and orlistat. These anti-obesity

drugs reliably provide weight loss and are sufficient to improve the health status and reduce the risk of numerous chronic complications,

with only minimal and mostly transient adverse effects. Alli, another orlistat-based drug, has been introduced in the market in the

Czech Republic this year and it is available without prescription. This fact prompted the authors to summarise the basic facts on orlistat.

When this article was being written, the EMEA revoked the registration of sibutramine in the EU countries based on an analysis of the

findings of the SCOUT study.

Keywords: obesity, pharmacotherapy, orlistat, Xenical, Alli, weight reduction

Published: May 1, 2010  Show citation