The prescription weight-loss drug orlistat, sold as Xenical, appears to be as effective as the Diabetes drug metformin, sold as Glucophage, in the treatment of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), according to UK researchers.

Lead investigator Dr. Vijay Jayagopal told AMN Health that “orlistat can be used to treat women with PCOS and it is especially useful when obesity and PCOS co-exist.”

In polycystic ovary syndrome, a woman’s ovaries develop multiple cysts.

Symptoms can include excessive hairiness, Obesity, menstrual abnormalities, and infertility. All of this may be caused by abnormally high production of male hormones in the ovaries.

PCOS is also believed to place women at increased risk for developing Diabetes.

In their study, Jayagopal, of the University of Hull and colleagues randomized 21 women to receive metformin or orlistat three times a day. All had previously undergone an 8-week run-in period of dietary modification.

After 3 months, compared with baseline, both regimens produced a significant reduction in testosterone levels. Moreover, those in the orlistat group showed a greater weight reduction than those in the metformin group.

Writing in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the authors say these findings reaffirm “the potential for orlistat to be a useful adjunct in the treatment of PCOS.” However, added Jayagopal, “the impact of such treatment on menstrual irregularities and subfertility requires evaluation in longer term studies.”

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, February 2005.