Meridia, the diet drug marketed by Abbott Laboraties, Inc, will receive a warning label for an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes in patients who’ve had prior cardiac history, including cardiac failure, hypertension, and irregular heart beats.
The FDA originally approved Meridia as a weight loss drug to be used in conjunction with regular diet and exercise. Meridia is related to the amphetamine family of stimulants.
On the same day that the FDA added the warning label to Meridia, the FDA counterpart in Europe has called for an outright ban of the substance sibutramine – sold in Europe under several names, including Reductil, Reduxade and Zelium. The European ban suggestion came in the wake of a study of 10,000 patients who had shown an increased risk for heart disease after taking a form of sibutramine.
The FDA plans to study the SCOUT (Sibutramine Cardiovascular Morbidity/Mortality Outcomes in Overweight or Obese Subjects at Risk of a Cardiovascular Event) report after it’s received from Abbott. The federal agency will most likely issue their own findings in a new report concerning Meridia sometime in March.