Many cold and fl u remedies and appetite suppressants which can be bought over the counter contain phenylpropanolamine (PPA), a drug which has been licensed for use for more than a decade. After years...

Many cold and fl u remedies and appetite suppressants which can be bought over the counter contain phenylpropanolamine (PPA), a drug which has been licensed for use for more than a decade. After years of legal and scientifi c wrangling over its safety, scientifi c advisers to the American Federal Drugs Administration (FDA) voted unanimously in November 2000 that it should no longer be considered safe, after it was the subject of a study by scientists at Yale University. In America, PPA is said to have been responsible for between 200 and 500 strokes a year in people aged under 50. The fi rst warning signs came in the 1980s when medical journals cited several dozen puzzling cases of young women who suddenly had strokes within days of taking appetite suppressants. However, the drug industry successfully argued that more research was needed to determine whether PPA was to blame, so the Consumer Healthcare Products Association funded a fi ve-year study by Yale University. The study found that young women were at increased risk of a stroke within three days of taking an appetite suppressant containing PPA or within three days of taking their fi rst PPA dose ever. Scientists who spoke on behalf of the drug industry said the Yale study was fl awed. (Adapted from a report in The Times, 7 November 2000)