New drug policy in childhood obesity.
OBJECTIVE
To update physicians, especially paediatricians, in the rapidly developing field of pharmacotherapy of childhood and adolescent obesity.


METHODS
The paper reviews current and investigational antiobesity drugs.


RESULTS
At present, there are only few drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of adult obesity. The most important ones are sibutramine and orlistat. The FDA in the USA approved the latter drug in 2003, and it has recently been approved by the European Union for the treatment of adolescents. There are several investigational antiobesity agents but only few new and promising substances like Rimonabant (a cannabinoid receptor antagonist) and axokine (ciliary neutrotrophic factor) are already at an advanced stage of development.


CONCLUSIONS
In adults, it seems to be justified using drugs for long-term treatment of 'medically important' obesity. Strict guidelines concerning the treatment of obese adolescents with orlistat are needed. It is only hoped that double-blind placebo-controlled studies investigating the new and promising drugs will also include adolescents and provide sufficient scientific data to get them licensed for the treatment of obese adolescents.
Molnár
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Department of Paediatrics, University of Pécs, Hungary. denes.molnar@aok.pte.hu
D000293:Adolescent; D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001067:Appetite Depressants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D003503:Cyclobutanes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015507:Drugs, Investigational; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007783:Lactones / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008049:Lipase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000077403:Orlistat
D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents; D001067:Appetite Depressants; D003503:Cyclobutanes; D015507:Drugs, Investigational; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D007783:Lactones; D000077403:Orlistat; D008049:Lipase; C058254:sibutramine