FDA Warns: Antipsychotic Zyprexa Causes Adolescent Weight Gain
The Food and Drug Administration is again warning doctors and patients about the risks of weight gain and diabetes in children and teens prescribed the powerful antipsychotic drug Zyprexa.
Zyprexa (olanzapine) is approved for treating children as young as 13 and adults with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Past studies have found adolescents taking Zyprexa are more likely to suffer dramatic weight gain. One October 2009 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found children taking Zyprexa gained on average 18.7 pounds after 11 weeks on the drug.
Many current and former Zyprexa users have sued the drug’s maker, Eli Lilly, for damages associated with the medication. The lawsuits accuse the company of covering up known risks of its blockbuster drug, including weight gain in adolescents.
Zyprexa Labeling Updated
The FDA recently announced revised labeling warnings on Zyprexa to address continuing concerns about weight gain and other adverse side effects. The revised labeling now advises doctors to consider side effects including weight gain and hyperlipidemia in adolescents given the drug.
“Clinicians should consider the potential long-term risks when prescribing to adolescents, and in many cases this may lead them to consider prescribing other drugs first in adolescents,” the revised label says.
Many Zyprexa users may have been prescribed the drug for unapproved, “off label” uses to treat disorders such as anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and other psychological disorders. While drug companies cannot legally promote off label uses of their approved drugs, doctors are free to prescribe approved medications for unapproved treatments when they see fit.
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How Zyprexa makes you Fat
Study out on Eli Lilly Zyprexa causing diabetes
Anti-Psychotic Drugs (Zyprexa) Change Metabolism
“Based on these findings we concluded that male rats treated with olanzapine experienced an early disruption of energy metabolism.
In the study 18 male rats were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) those receiving the conventional antipsychotic drug haloperidol (HA); (2) those receiving the atypical antipsychotic drug olanzapine (OL); or (3) the control (CO) group which did not receive either drug.
The medicines were given in food for a period of six weeks. Female rats were excluded to eliminate bias in the study since antipsychotic-induced weight gain in female rodents is likely related to an interaction of the drugs with estrogens.
Testing after four weeks found that the concentration of blood sugar (as glucose) was higher in OL rats (0.87 g/l) than in CO rats (0.75 g/l) and the levels increased more rapidly after a glucose meal. Testing six weeks later found fasting blood sugar levels continued to rise in OL rats (1.46 g/l vs. 1.25 g/l in CO rats) while the level of lipids (fats) in the blood was similar for both groups.
Although there was no difference in body weight gain or food intake, the proportion of fat stored in the abdominal cavity was higher in OL rats (1.63%) vs. CO rats (1.44%).
The HA rats did not vary in any way with the control group at any time. They exhibited a lower blood sugar level after a glucose meal and a lower proportion of intraabdominal fat store (1.44%) than OL rats.
Senior study author Dominique Hermier said, “Based on these findings we concluded that male rats treated with olanzapine (Zyprexa) experienced an early disruption of energy metabolism. This was a result of the fat tissue we observed and the impairment in blood sugar regulation which are both associated with metabolic syndrome and subsequent risk of diabetes.”
Source: American Physiological Society