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Register Today   Sign Up  Primary Care  FDA Panel Says Okay to
Lower BMI for Lap-Band  Published: Dec 3, 2010   GAITHERSBURG,
Md. -- An FDA advisory committee voted 8 to 2 that Allergan's
Lap-Band device is safe enough to use in patients with a BMI as
low as 30.  The stomach-shrinking device is currently approved
for weight loss in people who are at least 100 pounds overweight
or have a body mass index (BMI) of at least 40, or a BMI of at
least 35 with other comorbidities such as heart disease.
Allergan is looking for approval to lower those BMI cutoffs to
35 and 30 respectively.  If the FDA follows the advice of its
advisory committee the Lap-Band could be an option for another
27 million Americans.  The Lap-Band is an adjustable silicon
band that is implanted through tiny incisions around the upper
stomach. It works by reducing stomach capacity and thus the
amount of food the stomach can hold. Its use involves a less
invasive procedure than gast