Arlene Weintraub of Business Week says that "lifestyle drugs are defined loosely as products used to treat conditions that are not life-threatening." She puts alli in that category. I disagree and here's why...

First, obesity is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the U.S. Some claim it's the second leading cause of death, after smoking. Second, 65% of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese.

Given those rather surprising facts, here are two points to consider:

1. Even modest weight loss has been shown to result in meaningful improvements in health.

2. Weight loss programs like alli have been proven to make diet and exercise more effective.

One more point that we want to clarify: alli is intended for adults who are overweight and who need added help to reach their weight loss goals. They must also be comfortable with trying a gradual and healthy weight loss program.

It's not for people who are *not* overweight, and in fact, we have some controls in place that discourage underweight people from using the product. In addition, no one was underweight in our pre-launch study - which was open to any adult.

While it's still early in the launch of this new product, our latest research shows that it's being used by the people who need it most.

In fact, among over 46,000 alli buyers registering to date for the myalliplan, no one was underweight. 93% were either overweight or obese, with an average BMI of 32.

The remaining 7% were in the normal BMI range (18.5 to under 25). Reassuringly, they had weight loss goals that would keep them at a healthy weight. 

Despite news stories suggesting "skinny" people are buying alli, we see no evidence that they are.  But it is something we're on the look-out for, just in case - because skinny people don't need alli.