Well, THIS ain't good!
Allergan Receives U.S. Subpoena Over Weight Loss Device
Allergan Inc. (AGN) (AGN), the maker of the wrinkle treatment Botox, received a U.S. government subpoena over its gastric banding device for obesity.
Allergan received the subpoena from the Department of Health and Human Services’s Inspector General this month, the company reported today in a filing. Bonnie Jacobs, a spokeswoman for Irvine, California-based Allergan, acknowledged the subpoena but declined to comment further.
Allergan generated $203.1 million of its $5.42 billionrevenue (AGN) last year from devices for obesity. The company acquired the product, called Lap-Band, in 2006 with its purchase of Inamed Corp. The adjustable silicon band helps people lose weight by reducing the amount of food their stomachs can hold.
In January, House Democratic lawmakers called for hearings on medical devices including Lap-Band, following a study in the medical journal Archives of Surgery, that found almost half of patients with a gastric band had no weight loss or needed the device removed after six years. More than 40 percent had long- term complications.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the device in 2001 for patients who were at least 100 pounds (45 kilograms) overweight, had a body mass index of at least 40, or an index of 35 with obesity-related conditions such as heart problems. Allergan gained clearance in February 2011 to expand marketing of the device to people with lower body mass indexes and at least one obesity-related condition.
www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-07/allergan-receives-u-dot -s-dot-subpoena-over-weight-loss-device
Banded 10 years & maintaining my weight loss!! Any questions, message me.
I'm happy for those for whom the band has worked. And I'm heartbroken for those of us who have suffered immense pain from it. We're all so incredibly desperate to lose weight and gain good health... and that is the one thing that bonds us together, despite differences in opinion.
If a medical device is harmful, I'm glad that the government has stepped in. Otherwise, it's business as usual... and if it's making money (which is obviously IS) there is no way a major corporation is going to stop on its own, even if they know, ethically, that they should. I guess this is what the old adage, "Money is the root of all evil" is all about.
Avoid kemmerling, Green Bay, WI
on 5/8/12 5:24 am - Warwick, RI
I love my band !!!!
Marylmcd
on 5/8/12 7:04 am, edited 5/7/12 7:07 pm
.We've known all along that 40-50 percent of those who get the band will eventually have to get it removed this is nothing new, it's been happening since I got mine.
These are some questions and answers that I would have for Congress or any officials regarding my experience with the lap band.
Has my band been perfect? Absolutely NOT
Have I ever wanted to rip it out from bad fills from my previous surgeon? YES
Do I currently have any long term illness from my lap band? NO
Do I have any chronic illness living with my lap band? NO
What have been the worse issue I've experienced with my band over 6 1/2 years? I got a pill stuck about 5 years ago and vomited repeatedly, but it finally resolved, I ate Chinese chicken and vomited repeatedly, all those things were cause by user error.
Do I suffer from chronic malnutrition, hypoglycemia, vitamin deficiencies, dumping syndrome, repeated hospitalizations? NO.... but many people that had the bypass and other weight loss surgeries do.
What was required from me to lose 130 pounds with my lap band in about 18 months? I walked about 1 hour 5 days per week and got fills ever 6-8 weeks in the first two years -- I REALLY DID NOT DIET LIKE BYPASS PEOPLE DO, their diet is much more stricter -- I JUST ATE SMALL AMOUNTS AND WALKED,
In the 7 years I've had my band have I regained weight? YES, I stopped walking, and exercising and start eating more carbs and sweets due to hormonal cravings. No weight loss surgery will help that, I must work on my own personal demons.
Would revising over to another weight loss surgery help lose the weight I gained back? NOT really, I would have to do the exact same thing I would do with my lap band, such as watching my carbs and exercising, but I would have to take more vitamins forever and I don't want to be dependent on a vitamin regimen especially when I get older, that would concern me, so I would never alter my body to do the same thing I would do with the lap band.
Was this costly? Well sometimes when my insurance did not pay I usually had to pay about $200 per fill, now I pay nothing for fills-- again, I knew fills would be in the cost when I got my lap band because it's adjustable for life based on illness, tightness or just needing a fill for weight loss.
Did I pay cash for my lap band? NO, would I not pay cash for any weight loss surgery Absolutely NOT, there is too much risk involved with ANY weight loss surgery, such as no weight loss and possible complications, those are the risks we take when going under the knife.
If I ever have to get my lap band removed, would I revise over to another procedure? HELL NO. Why? Because there is NOT any other weight loss surgery ANY BETTER, than the lap band.
If there was a weight loss surgery that did NOT have unpleasant side effects such as dumping, vomiting, horrific smelling gas and stools, strictures, malnutrition, hernias, vitamin requirement for life, adverse reaction to carbs -- and 100 percent weight loss with NO EFFORT on my part, then I will be first in line to GET MY CRAP BAND RIPPED OUT and REVISE
....UNTIL THEN....IT'S ME AND SUZIE my lap band.....
I'm a band failure and looking at revision. I followed the "rules" but I didn't, and still don't, know when I'd vomit vs when I could eat anything & everything. The band is fine - it's just not the right answer for me... and many others.
I'm a band failure and looking at revision. I followed the "rules" but I didn't, and still don't, know when I'd vomit vs when I could eat anything & everything. The band is fine - it's just not the right answer for me... and many others.
If you "didn't, and still don't, know when I'd vomit vs when I could eat anything & everything", then no, you band is NOT fine!
FluffyPuff · 2 replies · 905 views
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