ABSTRACT
Anorexigens are drugs that suppress appetite mainly bymodulating the serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)] signaling pathway in the brain. It was always obvious that the efficacy of anorexigens was at most modest, leading to sustained weight reductions of only 5-10% more than placebo and diet alone. A significant group of anorexigen users had been minimally above the ideal body weight, and thus one can see these compounds as examples of ‘‘image-enhancing drugs’’ rather than tools against the battle of obesity. The industry of image-enhancing drugs has always been powerful and has repeatedly won over common sense and independent scientific thinking. The anorexigen story is an interesting example of the failure of Poincare´’s principle:
The method of the physical sciences is based upon the induction which leads us to expect recurrence of a phenomenon when the circumstances which give rise to it are repeated. (H. Poincare´, Science and Hypothesis, 1905.)
SM is a CIHR Strategic Fellow (TORCH program) and a Fellow in the University
of Alberta Clinician Investigator Program. y EM is a CIHR New Investigator and AHFMR Scholar.
