The Meridia Conspiracy Theory?

November 5th, 2010. By janem

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I’d say the FDA and Abbott Labs, the maker of Meridia, are in cahoots together. If that were the case, it would explain away the reason why the FDA approved the diet-suppressant drug soon after it declared Fen-Phen—an older cousin—unsafe, back in 1997. It would also explain how Abbott was able to market Meridia just two months after Fen-Phen was taken off the market.

Stay with me here… imagine the FDA getting kickbacks from drug companies for keeping their dangerous drugs on the market (Meridia lived for 14 years and that rings cha-ching). I’ll go out on a limb and take this one step further: Fen-Phen was typically taken by obese people for weight loss, and obese people often wind up with diabetes. Still here? Good. Diabetes is the biggest economic drain on the health system so wouldn’t it be easier just to kill obese people via heart attacks and strokes with drugs like Meridia and Fen-Phen before they become diabetic and a drain to the economy?

Here are the facts on diabetes: The American Journal of Public Health said that diabetes is a monumental drain on US Resources. The US has the largest number of diabetics (16 million) of all the developed countries and people with diabetes were responsible for 23 percent of US hospitals’ expenses in treating all conditions in 2008.

Although diabetes sufferers compose 8 percent of the US population, by 2008 they were responsible for 20 percent of US hospitalizations. It gets worse: those diabetes patients stayed longer in the hospital—5.3 days on average, as compared to 4.4 days for people without diabetes—and cost more—$10,937 on average, compared to $8,746. And we all know that when it comes to hospitalization, well, there’s no would-be money in that for the FDA–the money would be in prescription drugs.

OK, I’m getting carried away with the conspiracy theory. And in truth, if there were a conspiracy, hey, diabetics would surely be a necessary gravy train for potential kick-backs to the FDA—one need only look to the FDA’s handling of Avandia.

But really, what planet are you living on if you think that Meridia is safe? Or that it even works? In his medical wisdom, Howard LeWine, M.D. Tribune Media Services, said that Meridia is “not very effective” and “For many, weight loss is minimal.” Then he suggests that you will lose four pounds if you take it for a month. “If you lose less than four pounds, you should stop taking Meridia. It is very unlikely to be effective for you.” Huh? If I were obese and lost four pounds, I’d keep taking it because it works! To heck with side effects, I just want to be thin again.

I’m glad Howard isn’t my doctor: Meridia side effects are as serious as a heart attack. The only way to lose weight, as everyone knows (and if you don’t know you’re totally in denial) is to stick to a low-fat diet, eat less and exercise. But there’s no money in that.

As well, savvy marketers know how to sell diet pills by promoting the benefits (weight loss) and denying the risk (serious cardiac events). “The sad truth is that the aggressive marketing of Meridia directly to the public overshadowed the frightening risks associated with diet pills,” stated personal injury attorney Rick Patterson, at Owen, Patterson & Owen.

After reviewing data from the Sibutramine Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial (SCOUT), part of a post-market requirement to look at the cardiovascular safety of sibutramine, the FDA requested the market withdrawal of Meridia. The trial showed a risk of serious cardiac events, such as heart attack and stroke.

Now, Meridia users are urged by the FDA to “Immediately cease taking Meridia”. In fact, Dr. John Jenkins of the FDA stated on October 8th in The New York Times that the FDA urged the withdrawal of Meridia because “there was no identifiable population of patients for whom the benefits of Meridia outweighed its risks.” What? So what’s with the immediacy all of a sudden? After all, it took the FDA 14 years to issue that warning. (Afraid of being sued?)

Tags: Meridia

This was posted on Friday, November 5th, 2010 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.