Anti-obesity drug dangers probed
Abbott claims no link between Reductil, deaths

Reuters

March 15 — Abbott Laboratories Inc. on Friday said it was aware 34 patients around the world have died after taking anti-obesity drug Reductil — marketed as Meridia in the United States — since it was first tested in humans, but there is no evidence the deaths are linked to the drug.

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The figure was disclosed by Dr. Eugene Sun, vice president of the pharmaceutical development at the firm’s offices in Chicago, after Britain’s Department of Health reported two patients had died and reports that more than 200 others had suspected adverse reactions in the UK.

Italy suspended sales of the drug last week after receiving 50 reports of adverse reactions, including two deaths.

Sun said the firm was now aware of 28 deaths in the United States, two in Italy, two in Britain, one in South Africa and one in Switzerland.

But he said nearly 9 million patients had taken the drug — also known as sibutramine — and that the reported death rate was only two patients per 100,000 treated per year, compared with study findings showing a death rate of 400 per 100,000 per year in obese people.

The drug launched in 1997 and testing on humans began several years before that.

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