Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Public access to data at drug agencies
Published in Peter C. Gøtzsche, Richard Smith, Drummond Rennie, Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime, 2019
Peter C. Gøtzsche, Richard Smith, Drummond Rennie
The history of the slimming pills is a dire one that confirms that drug regulators aren’t willing to learn from history. Phentermine was approved in the United States in 1959 and is still on the market, although it’s similar to amphetamine, both chemically and in its effects. In the 1960s, another appetite suppressant with amphetamine effects, aminoxaphen (Aminorex), was very popular in Europe,35 but it causes pulmonary hypertension and was withdrawn after 7 years when hundreds of patients had died under terrible conditions.
Cardiovascular Causes of Interstitial Lung Disease
Published in Lourdes R. Laraya-Cuasay, Walter T. Hughes, Interstitial Lung Diseases in Children, 2019
Death usually results from congestive heart failure. However, in patients dying suddenly following cardiac catheterization or during induction of anesthesia, right-sided cardiac failure may not be obvious. Interestingly, in the late 1960s there was an outbreak of pulmonary hypertension in parts of western Europe attributed to the use of a weight-reducing drug “Aminorex”.14 Withdrawal of the drug was accompanied by a drop in the incidence of hypertension. Studies in rats suggested that plant extracts might be causally related. In any event, available evidence suggests that primary pulmonary hypertension is an acquired disease whose etiology has yet to be determined.
Pulmonary hypertension induced by drugs and toxins
Published in Philippe Camus, Edward C Rosenow, Drug-induced and Iatrogenic Respiratory Disease, 2010
Kim Bouillon, Yola Moride, Lucien Abenhaim, Marc Humbert
Aminorex resembles adrenaline and ephedrine in its chemical structure (Fig. 29.2) and acts as a potent appetite depressing agent and as a central stimulant. It has an adrenergic effect. In the 1960s there was an outbreak of chronic pulmonary hypertension in Europe. In 1967, a sudden 20-fold increase in the number of cases in adults (known at that time as primary pulmonary hypertension, according to the former nomenclature), mostly women, subjected to cardiac catheterization was observed in a Swiss medical clinic. The disease showed rapid progression, and the interval between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis was 10 months on average. The onset of the symptoms followed the beginning of the anorectic treatment by an average of 8.6 months (range 6–12 months). There were no apparent changes in either size or composition of the population, or of diagnostic procedures. About half of the patients were to some degree overweight, with a female preponderance. It was noticed that a considerable number of these patients had taken aminorex to reduce weight.3 A similar increase in the number of PAH cases observed was reported in other clinics in Switzerland,4 and in Austria and Germany, where aminorex was also available. Subsequently, a cooperative retrospective study has been conducted with participation of 23 centres in these countries. A total of 582 cases of chronic pulmonary hypertension were identified, among which 68 per cent had claimed they had used aminorex, either alone or in combination with other anorectic agents.5 Aminorex was introduced on the Swiss market in November 1965, and was withdrawn in October 1968, a few months after the communications of these findings.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with abatacept treatment for rheumatoid arthritis: A case report
Published in Canadian Journal of Respiratory, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, 2018
Steven Promislow, Lisa M. Mielniczuk, George Chandy, Duncan J. Stewart, Carolyn Pugliese, Ross A. Davies
PAH is a rare complication of several drugs. Historically, anorectic drugs such as fenfluramine, dexfenfluramine, aminorex, and benfluroex are the most well-known and have all been withdrawn from the market due to, among other concerns, their propensity to cause pulmonary hypertension. More recently, immune-modulating agents such as the tyrosine kinase inhibitor dasatinib as well as interferon α and interferon β have been implicated in the development of PAH. Amphetamines have also been associated with PAH, and there is an increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension in newborns of mothers who are taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
The risk of cardiovascular complications with current obesity drugs
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Safety, 2020
Ariana M. Chao, Thomas A. Wadden, Robert I. Berkowitz, Kerry Quigley, Frank Silvestry
Several weight loss medications have been withdrawn from the market due to adverse reactions. Cardiovascular toxicity has been a common reason for withdrawal after regulatory approval[9]. As a class, medications that act on monoamine neurotransmitters (to suppress appetite) have been the most frequently withdrawn due to associated cardiovascular toxicity. These include aminorex (pulmonary hypertension), fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine (valvulopathy), phenylpropanolamine (stroke), and sibutramine (myocardial infarction and stroke) [9,10].