By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff reporter
Doctors, or at least the less philistinic of them, have been trying to drum home the same message again and again: weight loss drugs can be addictive and harmful and should be regarded as a last resort. Now, the sharply declining sales of slimming pills suggest that consumers have finally begun to listen.
According to industry figures, the local market for weight loss pills was worth around 20.01 billion won (about $16.4 million) during the Jan.-March period, representing close to a 10 percent decline year-on-year. It bears further watching whether the first-quarter slide proves to be more than just a speed bump ― the market's revenue for the entire year of 2009 reached 101.1 billion won, a dramatic increase from the 60.3 billion won of 2006.
However, with health authorities issuing warnings about possible side effects related to the country's two best selling slimming pills, it's reasonable to think that consumers are legitimately scared.
The Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) cautioned consumers over the possibly harmful effects of sibutramine, an appetite suppressor that is the main ingredient for most of the country's best selling weight loss drugs, including the top placed Reductil, produced by American drug maker, Abbott.
Sibutramine based drugs have been restricted from use in Europe after doctors found they could be dangerous when taken by patients with cardiovascular conditions, which pressed the KDFDA to issue the warning in January. The KFDA is currently reviewing a report provided by Abbott that defends the safety of its drugs, and expects to reach a conclusion by the end of the month whether to pull Reductil from shelves or not.
The sales of Reductil during the first quarter were measured at 2.92 billion won, representing nearly a 34 percent drop year-on-year. Generic sibutramine-based drugs produced by Korean pharmaceutical companies, such as Hanmi Pharma's Slimmer and Chong Kun Dang's Silkramin, were also selling considerably less.
The KFDA had also warned against the side effects of orlistat, a drug designed to treat obesity and sold by global drug giants such as Roche and GlaxoSmithKline, citing possible liver damage, backing up a similar report by the U.S. FDA in August last year. The sales of Roche's Xenical here dropped by 20 percent year-on-year at 2.11 billion won during the first-quarter.
Health authorities have been concerned over an alarming number of South Korean women appearing to be suffering from the side effects of slimming pills, which include eating disorders, dizziness, excessive thirst, nausea and even depression.
A recent KFDA survey of 1,066 people who took weight loss drugs, which also included traditional herbal medicine, in 2008, revealed that 700 of them, including 70 percent of the 927 women, experienced some type of side effect after consuming the drugs.
The risk of most diet pills, whether prescribed by doctors or sold as nutritional supplements, lies in the fact that they are designed to only deliver temporary results based on appetite suppression. Thus, it would be dangerous for patients to consider these stimulants as replacements for healthy eating habits or exercise, the KFDA officials said.
Traditional Chinese herbal medicine remains a popular option as a weight loss medication here, according to the survey, as are prescribed drugs, liposuction and injection therapies.
Of the people who admitted to suffering side effects, 455 of them said they regained weight as soon as they stopped taking the pills, while 371 of them complained of dizziness and 284 experienced excessive thirst. Nausea was claimed in 274 of the respondents while depression was reported in 135 of them. Ninety two of the female respondents also said they experienced menstrual disorders.