Fen-Phen
Safety Update Information (fenfluramine,
phentermine, dexfenfluramine)
The
statements included in the background documents below reflect FDA's
perspective on fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine based on the information
available in November 1997. As fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine
are no longer marketed in the U.S. and have no current FDA labels,
we refer you to the medical literature to stay up-to-date on the emerging
research on this topic.
To
make finding this information more convenient for you, we have formulated
several search strategies that will search for the current literature
in MEDLINE, one of the most comprehensive
medical information systems in the world. MEDLINE is produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine; its web version PubMed is updated daily and is free of charge. To obtain very comprehensive
medical literature searches or searches on other topics, we recommend
contacting the reference librarians in your local public or medical
library.
The
table below covers two search topics; you can limit each of these
to literature in all languages or in English only. The time
span columns limits the search to new records added to MEDLINE over the most recent number of days. To use this search
application, read across the table to choose the search you prefer;
run the search by clicking on the time span.
Fen-phen
Update Searches on MEDLINE
If you have
not previously used PubMed, be sure to visit PubMed Help for more information on searching MEDLINE.
Fen-Phen
Interim Safety Recommendations
[11/13/1997]
With the withdrawal
of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine from the US market, many people
have asked what they should do if they have taken these drugs. In
order to try to provide guidance, based on the best information known
at present, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food
and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health (all
components of Department of Health and Human Services) collaborated
with experts within the medical community to develop interim recommendations
for patients. The interim recommendations were published in the November
14th issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). This
Fen/Phen information page includes these interim recommendations
[11/13/97] and a series of questions and answers
about the recommendations [11/13/97].
Other
Fen-Phen Background Information
FDA/Center
for Drug Evaluation and Research
(11/13/97)