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Research has indicated that a diet pill in the US raises the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Abbott Laboratories’ diet pill Meridia could be removed from the shelves after the US Food and Drug Administration expressed concerns about its safety in a review online.
The future of the drug will be deliberated by experts at a special meeting, where they will analyse the risk the drug can have on people’s hearts.
A number of options, including removing Meridia from general sale, will be proposed by the FDA.
Meridia has been on the market since 1997, but data released late last year showed patients taking the drug had more than an 11 per cent risk of heart attack and stroke compared with 10 per cent of those taking a placebo. European regulators pulled the product off the market in January.
Copyright Press Association 2010
US Food and Drug Administration
