Table 5.

Anti-obesity drugs for weight loss

Medication	Dosing	Side-effects and contraindications
Orlistat (Xenical®, Alli®-OTC)	• 120 mg TDS taken orally before meals (Xenical); or • 60 mg TDS (Alli) over the counter • Vitamin A, D, E and K, should to be taken 2 h after orlistat.	• Mostly gastrointestinal e.g. steatorrhoea, faecal incontinence and urgency, oily/fatty stools, flatulence and abdominal pain, and headaches. Exacerbated by diets containing >30% in fat content. • Contraindicated in pregnancy and breastfeeding, cholestasis, oxalate nephrolithiasis and chronic mal-absorption syndrome. May cause mal-absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, cholelithiasis and rare severe liver injury. • Use caution when taken concurrently with warfarin (enhances effect), anti-epileptics and cyclosporine (decreases effect), levothyroxine (decreases effect and should be taken 4 h from orlistat).
Liraglutide (3 mg, Saxenda®, Novo Nordisk)	• Escalated on weekly basis: 0.6 mg/day, 1.2 mg/day, 1.8 mg/day, 2.4 mg/day and finally 3 mg/day	• Mostly nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, hypoglycaemia, insomnia, dizziness, dysgeusia, dry mouth, dyspepsia, gastritis, gastro-oesophageal reflux, abdominal pain, abdominal distension, cholelithiasis, asthenia, fatigue, increased lipase and amylase