Do you know a teen who's looking to lose some weight?

By Christine O'Brien on 02/23/2010

Well, have I got a pill for you! Just 2,000 milligrams per day will have him shedding...well...who's really counting how much?

Why, no, I'm not avoiding telling you just how much they'll lose...Any amount is progress, right?

Especially if it means turning an already-popular Big Pharma drug into a cash cow.

I'm talking about metformin XR, a type 2 diabetes drug that carries a warning list a mile long. Obese kids aged 13–18 were given the drug for 48 weeks in combination with a "lifestyle intervention" (diet and exercise) program. The study appears in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Progress was measured using body mass index (BMI), a flawed method of measurement using the relationship between weight and height. After 48 weeks, teens taking metformin had an average 0.9 point decrease in mean adjusted BMI -- described by researchers as a "small but statstically significant" change compared to the average BMI gain of 0.2 points in kids taking a placebo.

Depending on the starting weight and height of each participant, we're talking about a loss of maybe 5 pounds here. A loss that wasn't even kept off 12 to 24 weeks after discontinuing metformin. Secondary measures of obesity, including measurements of fat mass, didn't even show statisical significance.

Of course, researchers in the study (for which the metformin (in the form of Glucophage XR) AND placebo pills were both provided by Bristol-Myers Squibb -- and remember, these companies don't have to tell anyone what exactly is in those placebos) concluded that metformin "may have an important role in the treatment of adolescent obesity." Translation? "Cha-ching!"

Really, what's better than having the next blockbuster weight-loss drug on your roster?

Once again, Big Pharma is laying the groundwork to make a ton of money, but at what cost? During the study, 31% of the kids taking metformin reported headaches. Another 23% reported nausea, and 15% had episodes of vomiting. Nearly half of the kids ended up with upper respiratory tract infections, and a small number experienced the vague-but- scary-sounding "musculoskeletal complaints." In the weeks after going off metformin, 30% of participants had lingering headaches.

And that's not even getting into the known side effects for metformin. There's a long list of warnings, possible drug interactions, and possible side effects associated with metformin. It may cause dizziness. Stomach upset, nausea, and diarrhea. Mild weight gain (huh). An increased incidence of bone fracture and "unusual bone pain." Increased risk of bladder cancer. Of course, that's nowhere near a complete list.

Oh, and I can't forget this one. There's a big ol' warning attached to metformin: That it should not be used in children, as the safety and effectiveness has not been confirmed (and this study, involving only 70 kids, is simply not enough to prove it).

Yet here we are, with a bunch of kids being used a guinea pigs to see if a popular diabetes drug can become the next blockbuster weight-loss "miracle."