CHICAGO, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Users of Alli, the first
weight-loss drug approved for sale over-the-counter in the
United States, are finding what they likely suspected all
along: pills are no magic substitute for diet and exercise.
Yet as Americans engage in the New Year’s tradition of
resolving to shed pounds, the market for diet aids is expected
to remain firm, even as the economy is mired in recession.
Americans spend $30 billion a year on weight-loss products
and services, and two-thirds of the population is overweight or
obese.
GSK.L
), a lower-strength version of
Roche’s (
ROG.VX
) prescription-only Xenical, created’ a stir
when it was approved 18 months ago.
Since then, it has become known for its unpleasant side
effects, including incontinence, diarrhea and flatulence with
“oily spotting.”
“It works to inhibit absorption of fat from our diet.
Therefore the fat comes out in the stool, causing diarrhea,
which patients don’t like much,” said Shirley TerMolen, a
Chicago internist.
Because the side effects result from eating too much fat,
TerMolen noted that some of her colleagues use the drug to help
patients modify their behavior.
TerMolen said she has prescribed the drug but has not seen
a lot of success. “For most people, they’re just looking for a
shortcut instead of just eating better and exercising,” she
said. 

One in seven Americans under age 65 went without prescribed medicines in 2007 as drug costs spiraled upward in the United States, a nonprofit research group said on Thursday.
That figure is up substantially since 2003, when one in 10 people under 65 went without a prescription drug because they couldn’t afford it, according to the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, D.C.
The current figure may be even higher because of the recent economic downturn, said Laurie E. Felland, a senior health researcher at the center and lead author of the study.
“Our findings are particularly troublesome given the increased reliance on prescription drugs to treat chronic conditions,” she added. “People who go without their
experience worsening health and complications.”
The people who were least able to afford medicine were often those who needed it most, Ms. Felland said: uninsured, working-age adults suffering from at least one chronic medical condition. Almost two-thirds of them in the survey said they had gone without filling a prescription.
provided by their employers were affected: one in 10 working-age Americans with employer-sponsored coverage went without a prescription medication in 2007, up from 8.7 percent in 2003, the study found.
Among low-income Americans, three in 10 said they had been unable to fill a prescription because of cost, and nearly one in four adults on
or state insurance programs said they’d had difficulty affording drugs.
Ms. Felland said a number of factors contributed to the trend, including rising drug prices, the tendency of physicians to prescribe drugs more frequently, the introduction of expensive new specialty medications, and skimpier drug coverage that shifts a greater share of costs onto patients.
“Insurance coverage offers less financial protection against out-of-pocket costs than it did in the past,” she said.
The study was based on results from the 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey, a nationally representative telephone survey of 10,400 adults under age 65, many of whom also discussed affordability of medications for their 2,600 children. Participants were asked whether there was a time in the previous 12 months when “you needed prescription medicines but didn’t get them because you couldn’t afford it.”
Overall, 5 percent of children didn’t have prescriptions filled in 2007 because of cost, up from 3.1 percent in 2003, and 17.8 percent of working-age adults couldn’t afford drugs in 2007, up from 13.8 percent in 2003, the survey found. That translates into about 36.1 million Americans under 65 who were affected, according to the study.
Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that researches health care issues, said the new study confirms previous Commonwealth studies. In 2007, nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults, or an estimated 116 million people, struggled to pay medical bills, went without needed care because of cost, were uninsured for a time or were underinsured, according to the foundation.
“It has become a middle class problem,” she added, noting that improving health coverage is an integral part of economic recovery.
“It’s not enough just to help people have jobs,” she said. “They need to have adequate coverage, so they can get care when they need it and pay the bills they incur when they do seek care.”