15 Anti-Obesity Drugs, 1892-Present
Doctors and drug manufacturers have been trying to help patients lose weight for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Soranus of Ephesus, a Greek physician in the second century AD, used a combination of laxatives and emetics to help his patients lose weight. Patients, doctors, and drug manufacturers often overlook serious side effects in the quest for weight loss. For example, the industrial chemical, 2,4 Dinitrophenol (DNP), used for pesticides and wood preservatives, has been used by bodybuilders for fat loss since the 1980s despite being linked to at least 62 deaths.
Below are a selection of 15 drugs used to combat obesity, many of which have been discontinued or withdrawn over health concerns, along with their status in the United States as of Apr. 2014, and their side effects. As of May 2014, seven of the drugs are legally available (one of these, thyroid extract, is frequently used off-label and unregulated by bodybuilders) and eight have been discontinued or withdrawn over safety concerns (three of which are still used illegally).
