Femoxetine in the treatment of obese patients in general practice. A randomized group comparative study with placebo

A study was carried out in general practice to compare the effectiveness of femoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, with the effect of placebo in helper patients more than 20 per cent above their ideal weight to lose weight. Patients were allocated at random to receive either 600 mg femoxetine (36 patients) or placebo (37 patients) daily over a period of 16 weeks. They were also asked to restrict their calorie intake to 1200-1600 kcal. (5.0-6.7 MJ)/day. The results showed that there was no statistically significant greater weight loss in patients treated with femoxetine (median = 8.3 kg) than with placebo (median = 6.2 kg) after 16 weeks. In subgroups of patients with obesity problems for more than 20 years and of patients previously in anorectic treatment, femoxetine tended towards causing a larger weight loss. Side-effects were generally minor in nature, and the incidence and nature of them were almost comparable in the two groups except for gastro-intestinal symptoms, which were reported more often in the femoxetine group. As femoxetine in several randomized group comparative studies in depressive illness has been shown to have an antidepressant efficacy which is comparable with the efficacy amitriptyline and imipramine, femoxetine may be particularly useful in the management of obese patients requiring antidepressant treatment.