Meridia Weight Loss Pill

September 1996 - FDA advisory committee votes 5-4 concluding the adverse health effects of Meridia outweigh the benefits of the weight loss pill.

September 1997 - Popular weight loss diet drugs fen phen is banned from the market due to the numerous PPH and heart valve problems that led to many fatalities and severe health complications.

• FDA approves use of Meridia (sibutramine) despite FDA's continued concern for potential serious Meridia side effects. Meridia's marketing strategy begins as a preemptive strike to critics by saying that the drugs are very different from fen phen.
  

January 2001 - One of the FDA's targets for demanding changes is made in their advertising and promotional materials was Abbott Laboratories, maker of Meridia. The FDA feels many drug companies make promises suggesting their product can be more effective than evidence suggests.

March 2002 - Italy takes sibutramine off the shelves, launching a Europe-wide review of the diet pill Meridia. There were 50 reports of health related problems due to the use of Meridia made.

• Two Meridia patients died in Britain and reports of over 200 others have adverse reactions.
• France had received 99 reports of sibutramine side effects, with ten of them considered very serious.
• Canada investigates Meridia after worldwide reports of deaths due to the diet drug surface.

March 19, 2002 - Public Citizen submits a petition to the FDA for the immediate ban of the diet drug Meridia. So far, Public Citizen has petitioned for the removal of four other FDA approved drugs since 1996 and three of the drugs ended up being banned and one severely restricted. Public Citizen finds the Meridia side effects to be just as dangerous to individuals.

March 20, 2002 - Abbott Laboratories responds to Public Citizen's statements that Meridia is a danger to patients saying that the petition was based on incorrect conclusions.

• Meridia is now sold in 70 countries and has been used by 8.5 million people worldwide.
• There have been 29 U.S. deaths linked to the use of Meridia.