Clinton C. Brown

Psychomotor test performance with a fenfluramine-amphetamine combination

D RUGS most commonly used for weight loss programs are amphetamine cogeners having in common a phenylethylamine structure. Amphetamines have been clearly shown to produce physical as well as psychological dependence.1-5 Their stimulant and euphoric properties encourage misuse, which may lead to habituation or addiction in many patients, some of whom, though by no means all, have inadequate or aberrant personalities.#{176} However, another phenylethylamine derivative, fenfluramine hydrochloride, unlike amphetamine, phenmetrazine, and diethylpropion, was found to increase the critical flicker fusion frequency, which is a measure of central stimulation,7 and hence was suggested by Connell8 to replace amphetamine derivatives in the field of appetite suppression. The expected agonistic action of amphetamine and fenfiuramine on appetite suppression and their antagonistic action on psychophysiologic functioning have become an important area of study, since if this relationship could be established