Isolipan (dexfenfluramine) and its place in the treatment of obesity

Obesity is the most common disease in the population of economically developed countries. 16-25% of the inhabitants of these countries have a body weight exceeding the norm by more than 15%. The increase in the incidence of obesity over the past 20 years is evident. The connection between obesity and such formidable diseases as hypertension, coronary heart disease, and type II diabetes is well known. At the same time, the current state of the problem of obesity therapy is far from perfect. Most patients, realizing the need for treatment, nevertheless cannot start it because of fear of the need to follow a half-starved diet for a long time. And although drugs that can reduce hunger, belonging to the group of amphetamine derivatives (ampheramone, fepranone, desopimon, etc.), have been known for more than 40 years, their use is limited due to frequent side effects (agitation, insomnia, palpitations, increased blood pressure, the development of drug dependence) and a large number of contraindications (hypertension, impaired carbohydrate tolerance, coronary heart disease, etc.). In this regard, the appearance of anorexigenic drugs of central serotonergic action, phenofluramine and later isolipan, IL (dexfenfluramine), which do not give such pronounced side effects and have relatively few contraindications, caused great interest. IL is a dextrorotatory isomer of fenfluramine and determines the anorexigenic effect of the latter.