Advocacy Group Calls for Ban of Diet Drug Meridia

The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban the diet drug sibutramine, sold under the drug sold under the brand name Meridia to 29 deaths in the United States.

The petition came amid growing concern among health officials in Europe where the drug, sold there under the brand name Reductil, has been linked to two deaths and adverse side-effects in hundreds of people (see earlier Obesity Week story).

The European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) confirmed late in the week that its scientific committee had initiated a review on the risks and benefits of the drug.

"The effect of sibutramine in promoting weight loss is meager and it is not known if this drug, or any diet drug for that matter, can be taken safely for a long enough period of time to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with obesity,'' said Sidney Wolf, director of Public Citizen, in a letter addressed to Tommy Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

An estimated 9 million people have used sibutramine-based drugs since 1997.

A spokeswoman for the manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories, said the company knows of 32 deaths of people taking Meridia, including 28 in the United States, but said there was no pattern indicating that the drug was to blame.

"There is no evidence of a link in any of the deaths to the drug," said Melissa Brotz.

Other sources: Public Citizen, FDA, Abbott