FDA: Meridia Side Effects Include Heart Troubles

Abbott Park, ILIn a report published late last month, the FDA claimed that patients with high blood pressure or heart problems or those who have suffered a stroke are at greater risk for Meridia side effects.

Sibutramine, marketed as Meridia in the US and Europe, is a prescription weight loss drug that is essentially a combination of medications that increases the availability of serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain. These chemicals, which can also act as antidepressants, are thought to curb one's appetite and create a sense of fulfillment in patients.

Yet the new warning from the FDA advises that the benefits of the medication fail to outweigh the enhanced risk of heart attack and stroke in sibutramine users. Patients with a history of heart attack, angina, heart failure, stroke, heart arrhythmia and peripheral artery disease are at particularly high risk.

The findings have provoked European medical agencies to pull the drug from its shelves and stop actively prescribing the medication. The FDA, however, will only require that Abott Laboratories - the manufacturer of the medication - place a stronger warning on its label.