- What is Meridia
diet pill?
Meridia diet pill (sibutramine) is an oral prescription
medication that is used to manage obesity through weight
loss and the maintenance of weight loss. Meridia
diet pill is the first orally administered serotonin and
noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) that has been used
for the management of obesity.
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- How does Meridia
diet pill work?
Meridia diet pill is supposed to work by affecting appetite
control centers in the brain to reduce food intake by increasing
satiety.
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- What are side
effects of Meridia diet pill?
Meridia diet pill is now under FDA review to look at the
side
effects of Meridia diet pill after the consumer advocacy
group Public Citizen filed a petition to ban the sales of
sibutramine. This action is in response to the 29 deaths
and hundreds of serious side effects of Meridia diet pill
that have been reported. The side effects that Meridia diet
pills have been associated to are serious and deadly. In
Meridia’s patient information it warns patients about
pulmonary hypertension (PPH), which is a rare and sometimes
fatal disease. PPH causes high blood pressure in the lungs
that leads to a feeling of constant breathlessness with
minimal exertion, fatigue, dizzy spells, fainting, and chest
pain, and there is no known cause of PPH.
Cardiac
valve dysfunction, or heart valve disease may also
be a Meridia side effect risk. Heart valve disease causes
the valves in the heart to allow blood flow backwards
through them. The most common Meridia side effects include,
headache, dry mouth, anorexia, constipation, insomnia,
increase in blood pressure, increase in heart rate, mental
impairments, heart disease, stroke, seizures, and increased
sweating.
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- Why has a
petition been filed to the FDA to ban Meridia diet pill?
Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen submitted a petition
to the FDA on March 19, 2002. The request comes after the
29 deaths
and hundreds of serious Meridia
side effects that have been reported which have led
Public Citizen to find the risks of Meridia diet pill to
outweigh the benefits. The FDA first approved Meridia despite
their advisory board voting against it. Public Citizen also
thinks that the FDA must raise the standard for approval
of diet pills and require drug makers to show an actual
health benefit instead of relying on short-term studies.
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- Who is the
Public Citizen?
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy
organization founded by Ralph Nader in 1971 to represent
consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and
the courts. 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 side effects of Meridia
diet pill to be just as dangerous to individuals.
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- What is the
FDA’s response to Public Citizen’s petition?
The FDA will now be considering Public Citizen’s petition
and determine if the Meridia side effects are acceptable
or if the safety issues of the diet pill outweigh the benefits.
There is a Europe wide investigation on the safety of Meridia
diet pill, and most recently an investigation in Canada
has also been launched.
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- Do I have any
rights if I have been injured taking Meridia diet pill?
Anyone who has taken Meridia diet pill and has suffered
the adverse health effects associated to the weight loss
pill please contact
a Meridia Lawyer.
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