Fwd: [drugawareness] Petition to Ban Meridia in US Renewed

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drugawareness

atracyphd2

Sat, 13 Sep 2003 14:24:02 EDT

[drugawareness] Petition to Ban Meridia in US Renewed

 

 

From the Washington Post we learn, " In addition to the 49 deaths, Public

Citizen said 124 users have been hospitalized for serious heart and

cardiovascular

problems since the drug was approved. "

 

" There is no justification in continuing to market a drug that provides

minimal weight reduction while increasing the likelihood of injury and death, "

the

petition said. Many of the newly reported deaths, the petition said, were of

people younger than 50. "

 

I believe it was just last year that Italy banned the SSRI diet drug Meridia.

Now, we see a request for action to be taken here in the US.

 

As I have said repeatedly about Meridia from its introduction, it is nothing

more than another Redux or Fen-Phen. About the only difference is that it came

with a few additional warnings - but there is never enough warnings from

these companies who will do anything to make a buck! And as we have just

witnessed

with the SSRIs' serious adverse effects upon children and teens they will

hide the adverse reaction reports for as long as they possibly can because each

day that the news does not reach the public they will make millions more on

their drugs.

 

So often as I go about daily activities outside the office I run into someone

who mentions one of their family members who is dying from the effects of

Fen-Phen or Redux. There is so little difference in Meridia and these drugs.

They

work the same way and why the drug was ever approved is beyond me! Anyone

with even a small portion of a brain could have figured out that the end result

could be expected to be the same.

 

Well, now the data is in to prove the similarity in the results. Tragically

the " data " in these cases are lives that have been cut much too short leaving

families of widows, widowers, and fatherless, or motherless children, etc. in

the wake.

 

Even though the drug companies were made to pay for much of the heart and

lung problems they caused with Fen-Phen and Redux, Wyeth basically got away with

causing all the brain damage they produced with these two drugs. The brain

damage is what the FDA was concerned with in the beginning with the drugs, not

heart or lung damage. The FDA had told Wyeth they wanted additonal studies to

show these drugs were safe for the human brain. Those studies were not done nor

submitted before Dr. Hedi Connelly sounded the alarm on the heart damage with

the drugs. This information never seemed to reach the victims.

 

Yet we knew about the heart damage for several months before the drugs were

pulled.

 

What came out within the last two weeks before Fen-Phen and Redux were pulled

were the National Institute of Health studies showing the most horrific brain

damage imaginable. Few in the media carried the story - similar to what we

are seeing now with the media coverage on the SSRIs causing suicide in children

and teens.

 

So Wyeth basically got away with the suicides and murder/suicides, severe

depression, memory loss, severe insomnia, manic reactions, horrific nightmares,

etc., etc., etc. caused by Fen-Phen and Redux.

 

(If you are not yet aware of all the serious damage done to the body and the

brain by all of these drugs that increase serotonin throughout the body and

the brain, read my book to get the full picture: Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? -

Our Serotonin Nightmare 800-280-0730.)

 

Just how long will we allow these companies to continue to produce such

horrific damage and deaths with little or no accountability?

 

Dr. Ann Blake Tracy,

Executive Director, International Coalition For Drug Awareness

& author of Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare

& tape on safe withdrawal " Help! I Can't Get Off My Antidepressant! "

 

Order Number: 800-280-0730

Website: www.drugawareness.org

 

<A

HREF= " http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22156-2003Sep3.html " >http:/\

/www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22156-2003Sep3.html</A>

 

Petition To Ban Diet Drug Renewed

 

By Marc Kaufman

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, September 4, 2003; Page A08

 

The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen said yesterday the diet drug

Meridia has been associated with the deaths of 49 patients since it came on the

market five years ago, as the group renewed a petition to the Food and Drug

Administration to have the drug banned.

 

Public Citizen, which initially petitioned the FDA regarding Meridia more

than a year ago, supplemented its effort with new information from the FDA

" adverse event " database through the end of March. In addition to the 49 deaths,

Public Citizen said 124 users have been hospitalized for serious heart and

cardiovascular problems since the drug was approved.

 

" There is no justification in continuing to market a drug that provides

minimal weight reduction while increasing the likelihood of injury and death, "

the

petition said. Many of the newly reported deaths, the petition said, were of

people younger than 50.

 

Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said he had

been told that the FDA is studying whether weight-loss drugs such as Meridia,

which contain amphetamine-like compounds, cause more heart and cardiovascular

disease than other weight-loss medications.

 

FDA spokeswoman Laura Bradbard said that after the initial Public Citizen

petition, the agency began an additional review comparing adverse event reports

for Meridia and for Xenical, another major weight-loss drug that doesn't have

amphetamine-like components. She said no date had been set for a decision on

the petition.

 

Meridia's manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories, said the drug is safe and has

been used by more than 12 million people worldwide. Fewer than 1 million Meridia

prescriptions are written annually in the United States, a company

spokeswoman said.

 

" Sidney Wolfe's supplement to the March 19, 2002, Citizen's Petition to the

FDA reflects a pattern of irresponsible conduct by Public Citizen, " the company

said in a statement. " The safety of Meridia has recently been comprehensively

re-examined by regulatory authorities, including the European Committee for

Proprietary Medicinal Products and Canadian Health authorities, and [they] have

concluded that the risk/benefit profile of Meridia remains favorable. . . .

Obese patients are at serious risk for premature death and cardiovascular

complications. "

 

Because overweight people have a greater risk of heart attack and

cardiovascular disease, the debate now is whether Meridia increases that risk.

In its

safety information on Meridia, the company says that the drug " substantially

increases blood pressure in some patients " but also that weight loss with

Meridia

can decrease cardiovascular risks.

 

But Wolfe said, " It's clear this drug increases the risk of death. "

 

Meridia has avid supporters, who say it has helped them lose significant

weight. But in its petition, Public Citizen said the average weight loss

announced

at the drug's approval was 61/2 pounds after a year of taking 10 milligrams

daily. The petition also said cardiovascular birth defects were reported in

four babies born to women taking the drug.

 

Last year, the FDA reprimanded Abbott for not properly reporting the deaths

of patients taking Meridia. The agency said information about seven deaths was

not reported properly, one death was not reported at all and reports on three

other deaths were incomplete. Abbott acknowledged the error but said it

occurred before it owned the drug, which was developed by Knoll Pharmaceuticals.

 

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

 

 

 

 

 

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