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Meridia has continued
to receive negative press regarding the serious
and deadly side effects that have been reported.
Public Citizen already renewed the call for
federal regulators to ban Meridia in the beginning
of September. According to the consumer advocacy
group, since March 2002 when it initially petitioned
the FDA to ban Meridia, it had found an additional
30 cardiovascular deaths in Meridia patients.
The Meridia side effects only
added to the already cited 49 Meridia deaths
and 124 Meridia hospitalizations due to serious
heart and cardiovascular problems. All Meridia
patients must be closely monitored for increased
heart rate and blood pressure. If discontinuing
Meridia use, any lost weight will be regained.
Most of the Meridia deaths
have occurred in patients under 50 years of
age and the result are considered too minimal
considering the drug’s risks according
to Meridia critics. The FDA spokeswoman has
said in response to Public Citizen’s renewed
Meridia ban request that the agency had already
begun after the actual Meridia petition an additional
review comparing adverse event reports for Meridia.
For more information
on Meridia contact
us to confer with a Meridia lawyer.
Meridia weight loss
pill still popular
Despite the fen phen recall in 1997, reports
show that diet pills are still as popular as
when fen phen was first introduced to the market.
Serious and fatal side effects of the diet pills
did not deter dieting Americans from seeking
slimming effects from other drugs like Meridia.
A disease prevention expert at Stanford University
points out that people looking for a quick and
easy was to lose weight will not be found with
a fad drug and should refrain from seeking fast
results with diet pills like Meridia when they
do not yet understand the potential downsides.
Contact
us for more information on Meridia side
effects.
April
2003
New Meridia studies
will be published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association’s April 9th issue.
A study was performed by researchers at the
Weight and Eating Disorders Program of the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as the first
controlled trial in overweight teenagers using
Meridia.
The Meridia study investigated
82 adolescents between ages 13 and 17 with an
average weight of 228 pounds. While the study
concluded Meridia was an aid in decreasing the
level of hunger amongst the study participants,
leading to an average weight loss of 23 pounds,
Meridia has worrisome side effects associated
to the weight loss drug.
Meridia side effects in the
study included both increased blood pressure
and an increased pulse rate. Since overweight
people already have increased risk for high
blood pressure and stressors resulting in increased
pulse rate, as is, the addition of Meridia could
be a potentially serious situation. In March
2002, the Public Citizen consumer group sent
the FDA a petition for the immediate ban of
Meridia due to the 29 deaths linked to Meridia,
including 19 of the deaths caused by cardiovascular
events.
Currently, Meridia is
available to just adults 16 and older. The FDA
advisers voted 5-4 against the approval of Meridia,
however the FDA still approved the drug despite
the concerns of elevated blood pressure and
increased heart rate. Again in May 2002, Public
Citizen sent a letter urging Meridia be banned
after the group pointed to FDA evidence showing
Meridia maker Abbott Laboratories had failed
to provide accurate information regarding Meridia,
making claims unsupported by source data or
with missing additional information found in
the source data.
Please contact
us for more information on Meridia and to
confer with a Meridia attorney.
June 2002
Five former Meridia patients
sue Abbott Laboratories, the manufactures of
the diet drug Meridia, over alleged side effects
including heart problems.
May 2002
The consumer advocacy group
Public Citizen calls on the US government to
bring criminal charges against Abbott Laboratories,
the manufacturers of Meridia for allegedly withholding
information about adverse events and 8 patient
deaths related to Meridia. The allegations
are based on an FDA inspection of an Abbott
plant in Illinois conducted in late March and
early April.
March 2002
The Italian Health Ministry
suspends the sale of Meridia following the deaths
of two women being treated by Meridia, triggering
a European review of the Meridia diet drug.
March 2002
The first lawsuit on the behalf
of a Meridia diet drug patient is filed, naming
Abbot Laboratories, BASF AG, BASF Corporation,
and Knoll Pharmaceutical Company as defendants.
Knoll Pharmaceutical Company, a unit of BASF,
originally manufactured Meridia.
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