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There was a notification from the federal health advisers who voted and recommended that the sale of the weight loss pills should only be with a prescription.

The pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline are awaiting the final wording from the Food and Drug Administration to get approval on selling a nonprescription version of their diet pill, which is already being sell in the market under the brand name of Xenical.

It must be known that the Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug can take months before they can get to the shelves. The diet pills that were once available over the counter can now hit the shelves.

There were clinical trials that were run on the drug called orlistat and in that study there were people who were taking the placebo pills as well, it was found that the people who have been taking the placebo have not much difference in their weight, but the people who have been using orlistat have lost about 5.3 to 6.2 pounds more than what other categories lost who were taking the placebo. The company recommends that the people must take the pill only for about six months and not more than that.

Doctors state that the effect of the pill stops as soon as it is stopped and they also say that there is a very steep rise in weight of people who stop using the drugs. Therefore these drugs can be helpful but in the longer term they are not.

The specialists also added that people who use the drug to lose weight must also be on proper diet and exercise plan. The officials of the drug manufacturer company added that the effect of the drug is gradual, which is the best way of achieving the weight loss. It is also being said that this drug will help people control the calorie intake and modify their diet.

The nutritionist suggest that it is possible that we can diet and exercise and lose our weight in a natural way and that is the best route possible, though we can use the pills as an adjunct but not solely as a mode to lose weight without the diet and exercise regimen.

As a general estimate the orlistat costs the users of it about $12 to $25 a week and there was an estimate given by the company that there are about 6 million Americans a year who are buying the drug and there are about 22 million people who have used orlistat in the prescription form all over the world.

The mechanism of action of orlistat is that when it is taken with meals, this blocks the absorption of fat that is consumed and the fat just passes out of the body in stools and are loose or oily as a result of this medication. The side effects of this medicine includes gas, incontinence and oily spotting. The side effects were reported in about half of the patients that took part in the study.

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