Pills that promise weight loss are never hard to sell and Abbott's Meridia offered the added benefit of a "high"--since it was closely related to amphetamines or "speed." Debuted in 1997, as direct-to-consumer advertising was beginning, Meridian ads showed overweight women crediting the drug with giving them more will power while the ads simultaneously warned of heart and other health risks and "dependence" in those who abused the controlled drug.
When it came to safety, there was a cloud over Meridia even before it was approved. In 1996, an FDA advisory committee voted 5 to 4 that the drug's benefits did not outweigh its risks. In 2002 Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to ban the drug for its heart and cardiovascular risks revealed in several studies. In 2009 there were 84 reports of Meridia deaths from cardiovascular reasons in the FDA Adverse Event Reactions database.
Still, three years after its approval, Meridia had been used by 2 million people in the U.S. and was widely marketed in other parts of the world as Reductil, Siredia and Sibutrex. It was not until 2010, after Meridia was sold for 13 years, that Abbott withdrew it from the U.S. market under FDA pressure.
Some of Meridia's quick rise stemmed from it being approved just as Fen-Phen was withdrawn. Pondimin or "fen" (fenfluramine) was not popular until marketers combined it with phentermine. Fen-Phen certainly took pounds off but in combination, "fen" was linked to at least 41 cases of pulmonary hypertension a rare lung disorder in which arteries narrow and can cause high blood pressure, valve problems and possible right heart failure. American Home Products (which became Wyeth, then Pfizer) quickly developed Redux, a similar drug to fen it hoped would be safer. But in 1997 the FDA withdrew both drugs for heart valve problems.
3. Vioxx
Perhaps no blockbuster drug executed the crash and burn of Merck's Vioxx. Billed as "super-aspirin" for everyday pain whether menstrual or arthritis, Vioxx was aggressively advertised by celebrity athletes like skater Dorothy Hamill and track star Bruce Jenner as a wonder drug. Except that it wasn't.
The Vioxx saga was the first time in recent memory that the possibility of deliberate Pharma subterfuge surfaced. Even as 20 million people were using Vioxx, it was found to double the risk of heart attack and Merck was reported to have known about it. According to many news reports, Vioxx's cardiovascular risk data was deliberately withheld from the FDA, medical journals, the drug-taking public and their doctors, presumably so Merck could get its "patent's worth."
In Merck's 1999 annual report announcing Vioxx, the drug giant could barely contain its glee. "Vioxx--Our Biggest, Fastest and Best Launch Ever!" it trumpeted, predicting the drug would graduate from being a mere painkiller to preventing Alzheimer's disease and colon cancer. Instead, Merck found itself compensating 20,591 heart attack and 12,447 stroke plaintiffs in 2010 out of a $4.85 billion settlement fund. Some press reports placed the number of heart attacks linked to the super-aspirin at 140,000.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
