Bowing to pressure from the Food and Drug Administration, the maker of diet drug Meridia said it is voluntarily taking the drug off the market, The New York Times reports.
Abbott Laboratories’ diet pill was controversial from the start because it was known to raise both blood pressure and heart rate. Results from a clinical trial, announced late last year, showed a significant increased risk for heart attack or stroke, but only mild weight loss.
“Meridia’s continued availability is not justified when you compare the very modest weight loss that people achieve on this drug to their risk of heart attack or stroke,” Dr. John Jenkins, director of the office of new drugs at the FDA, said in a statement.
FDA officials said the approximately 100,000 Americans using Meridia should stop taking the drug and talk with their doctor.
Roche’s Xenical is the only prescription weight-loss drug left on the market that is approved for long-term use.
Separately, the FDA is also warning consumers not to use a nutritional supplement sold over the Internet that contains the active ingredient in Meridia.
The product, Slimming Beauty Bitter Orange Slimming Capsules, contains sibutramine but does not list it on its label and misleadingly suggests the capsules are 100 percent natural.
The agency warns that, just as in the case of Meridia, those with cardiovascular conditions could be putting themselves at risk by taking the pills.
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