To believe that the case of the Mediator did not serve as a lesson … Here is that Afssaps launches a warning to prescribing doctors and pharmacists on the “diversion” of Epitomax, a drug indicated as antiepileptic and as an anti-migraine medication, which seems to be used sometimes by some patients to lose weight.
The Afssaps recalls that this drug has not been the subject of any evaluation of its effectiveness and its safety for slimming purposes. It also recalls that before any new use, any molecule is subject to an evaluation, in particular for the safety of use, and that using Epitomax to lose weight can lead to potential risks for patients. These undesirable effects include renal, ocular or metabolic risks. Moreover, this medicine may reduce the effectiveness of estrogen-progestogen contraception in women.
In an interview published in the daily La Provence, the new director of Afssaps, Dominique Maraninchi explains having learned the lessons of the Mediator affair: “Taking a drug against epilepsy to lose weight is serious. The French Agency for the Safety of Health Products (Afssaps) has been warned that it was used as an appetite suppressant and as a weight loss product without any marketing authorization (AMM) for this use. So it was prescribed.
Today the Afssaps reacts very quickly to stop the abuses ”he insists.
Afssaps therefore recommends that prescribers strictly adhere to the indications provided, and pharmacists to dispense it only to patients for whom Epitomax has been prescribed as an antiepileptic or as an antimigraine medication.
