The efficacy of the appetite suppressant, diethylpropion, is dependent on both when it is given (day vs. night) and under conditions of high fat dietary restriction.

Obesity is a public health problem caused by excessive consumption of high caloric diets and/or lack of physical activity. Although treatments for obesity include low caloric diets and exercise programs, these activities frequently are supplemented with appetite suppressants. For the short-term treatment of weight loss, diethylpropion (DEP) is a commonly used appetite suppressant. However, little is known with regard to how to improve its weight loss efficacy. We therefore evaluated, in rats, two administration protocols where the animals received daily injections of DEP. First, when these nocturnal animals were normally active (at night) and when they were normally inactive (daytime), and second, with or without high fat dietary restriction (HFDR). We observed that DEP induced a greater weight-loss administered when the animals were in their active phase than in their inactive phase. Moreover, DEP's administration during the inactive phase (and to a lesser degree in the active phase) promotes the consumption of food during normal sleeping time. In addition, we found that DEP-induced weight loss under ad libitum access to a HF diet, but its efficacy significantly improved under conditions of HFDR. In summary, the efficacy of DEP, and presumably other like appetite suppressants, is enhanced by carefully controlling the time it is administered and under dietary restriction of HF diets.

The objective and timing of drug disposition studies, appendix III. Diethylpropion and its metabolites in the blood plasma of the human after subcutaneous and oral administration.

Diethylpropion hydrochloride is an effective anorexiant at the recommended dose of 25 mg three times a day. Previous work in volunteers to evaluate the effects of much larger doses showed that 400 mg given orally was equipotent with 600 mg subcutaneously in terms of subjective and physiologic effects, i.e., the drug was more potent orally than subcutaneously. In one volunteer, blood level studies after a 600-mg subcutaneous dose showed concentrations of unchanged diethylpropion in the plasma about three times as high as those found after the equipotent 400 mg oral dose. In nine other volunteers, the plasma concentrations of unchanged diethylpropion found after a 75-mg oral dose was less than 1/100 of that observed after a 400-mg oral dose. These observations suggest a rapid but limited metabolic capacity for conversion of diethylpropion to its metabolites. The data indicate that the metabolites, rather than the parent drug, are responsible for the pharmacologic responses seen with doses much larger than those necessary for inducting anorexia.