Public Citizen is lobbying the FDA to ban Xenical, an anti-obesity drug made by Roche. The drug is also about to be sold over-the-counter by Glaxo SmithKline. Public Citizen is a Washington lobbying group affiliated with Ralph Nader and, while mostly ignored within the industry, Public Citizen provided early and prophetic FDA criticism of drugs such as Vioxx, Bextra and Rezulin, all of which had to be withdrawn from the market. In the Xenical press release, Public Citizen was joined by two Case Western Reserve University pathologists, who say there is a large body of scientific data that suggests that aberrant crypt foci (ACF) lead to colon cancer. “The failure to ban the prescription version of this drug or, worse, to make it much more widely available by allowing OTC sales, is a decision that is likely to increase cancer incidence,” said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.