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Louis Lasagna, MD
Tufts University Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences Boston

JAMA. 1985;253(17):2491-2492.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The article by Pentel¹ in the Oct 12, 1984, issue of THE JOURNAL is the kind of "rehash of older information" that a recent JAMA editorial criticized.² It is primarily concerned with phenylpropanolamine, fails to provide a balanced assessment, and provides no new data.

The Australian report, cited by Pentel, that phenylpropanolamine elevated blood pressure, actually involved a product (Trimolets) that differed from American phenylpropanolamine and probably contained a different and much more potent isomer in dosage of 85 mg in immediate release form, ie, 3 1/2 times the allowable single US dose. This discrepancy in products and dosage is the most parsimonious explanation for the fact that the Australian findings have never been replicated despite more than 70 clinical studies of the American product.

Pentel ignores studies that have shown American phenylpropanolamine to be safe, even at doses at least twice the recommended doses . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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