It was developed in 1983 by Hoffmann-La Roche and is a more simple and stable compound than lipstatin.[5][8][9] For that reason orlistat was chosen over lipstatin for development as an anti-obesity drug.[1][10] It is the only available FDA-approved oral lipase inhibitor and is known on the market as Xenical and Alli.[5] Initially orlistat was developed as a treatment for dyslipidemia, not as an anti-obesity agent.