WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports of liver damage in patients taking alli, the only nonprescription weight- loss drug approved by the agency.
Regulators said Monday they have received more than 30 reports of liver damage in patients taking alli and Xenical, the prescription version of the drug. The reports, submitted between 1999 and October 2008, included 27 hospitalized patients and six who suffered liver failure.
Alli and Xenical are marketed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, although Xenical is manufactured by Swiss firm Roche.
The FDA says it has not established a direct relationship between the weight-loss treatments and liver injury, and it advises patients to continue using the drugs as directed. The Associated Press
