You have probably already heard of Ozempic, an antidiabetic used for weight loss. Currently, it is the turn of the drug Periactin, an antiallergic used in a roundabout way by certain people to gain weight or “grow buttocks”, to be talked about. From July 10, it will no longer be sold freely in pharmacies in France, according to the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM). Which is already the case in Luxembourg.
“It’s an antiallergic that has been sold for several decades. And in other territories, it is very successful. But it is misused by people, often young women, who are looking to gain weight, especially their buttocks,” explains Nicolas Schneider, pharmacist in Lallange, Luxembourg, and author of a thesis on the subject.
This molecule actually promotes an increase in appetite, an effect highlighted on certain social networks with the stated aim of reproducing the “silhouette of callipygian personalities (Editor’s note: who have nice buttocks), like the reality TV star Kim Kardashian”, notes theAFP. Influencer Poupette Kenza also praised its merits via Snapchat. “You can gain three kilos in less than a month,” she shared with her followers at the end of 2023, before being banned from the platform.
Among the pharmacies contacted by The essentialmost say they generally only sell around ten boxes per year, around a hundred at most for one of them.
However, “it is not without side effects,” warns Nicolas Schneider. Cyproheptadine, sold by the Teofarma laboratory under the name Periactin, can have harmful consequences, sometimes serious, if it is taken uncontrolled. “You spend your time sleeping,” writes the ANSM, which has already been calling for vigilance since 2022. It made its decision “on the basis of what we see on social networks, where there is always a significant promotion of the “cosmetic” use of this treatment, explained to theAFP Isabelle Yoldjian, medical director at the agency.
However, it is difficult to get an idea of the real extent of the misuse of Periactin because, beyond pharmacies, this treatment is widely sold online, in a manner that is difficult to control.
“We cannot have a quantified estimate of misuse,” admits Ms. Yoldjian, estimating that the few cases of adverse effects recorded in recent years are probably below the reality. If the measure taken by the ANSM will have an effect in pharmacies, it is more difficult to evaluate to what extent it will be able to act on online sales.
Are you already following us on WhatsApp?
Subscribe to our channel, activate the little and you will receive a news recap every day in early evening.
