Two manufacturers said they would stop making PPA-containing products, and one drug store chain said it would no longer sell PPA medicines. Other companies were reviewing the FDA announcement, according to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents makers of nonprescription drugs. We don't want to be alarmist. The PPA warning comes amid an FDA review of another widely used nonprescription weight-loss ingredient, the herb ephedra. For years, the agency has been worried that ephedra may be linked to heart attacks, seizures and deaths.
Makers insist ephedra products are safe when used as directed.
With PPA, Ganley said it was hard to determine how much the ingredient might elevate stroke risk. At an advisory committee meeting last month, FDA officials estimated PPA might cause between 200 and 500 hemorrhagic strokes per year in patients aged 18 to 49. U.S. consumers bought about 6 billion doses of PPA last year. In the study, hemorrhagic strokes, or bleeding into the brain, occurred within three days after people took PPA products. The CHPA has disputed the Yale study as inconclusive.