Antifat drugs like Roche's Xenical and Abbott's Meridia have been held back by side effects.

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The newest fat pills, Hoffmann-La Roche's Xenical and Abbott Laboratories' Meridia, are struggling after a promising start.

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By 2010, the Meridia pill then sold by Abbott Laboratories was also yanked.

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The only FDA-approved weight loss medications are sibutramine (Meridia), orlistat (Xenical), and phentermine.

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But it still shows how very cautious the agency is about obesity drugs after debacles like rimonabant and Meridia.

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The weight-loss busts are plenty: Meridia (heart attacks, strokes), Fen-phen (heart risk), Rimonabant (suicidal thoughts), ephedra (heart attacks, strokes).

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Nor was Meridia (sibutramine), which Abbott Laboratories voluntarily withdrew from the market in October due to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

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Meridia, from Abbott Laboratories (nyse: ABT - news - people ), and Xenical, from Roche , have both failed to ignite, partly because of side effects.

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On Wednesday, the same FDA panel will discuss whether to keep Meridia, an Abbott weight loss drug, on the market at all after data show it may cause heart attacks.

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In that same year, counterfeits of the weight-loss drug Alli sold over the Internet contained none of the active ingredient in the real drug but did contain sibutramine, the prescription-strength weight-loss drug Meridia, which has since been removed from the U.S. market because of concerns about cardiac side effects.

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After years of controversy, the Food and Drug Administration has asked Abbott Laboratories to yank the weight loss drug Meridia, generically known as sibutramine, from the market as a result of a large clinical trial that found the drug increased the rate of heart attack and stroke in patients at high cardiovascular risk.

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Pfizer 's (nyse: PFE - news - people ) arthritis pill Bextra, Abbott Laboratories ' (nyse: ABT - news - people ) weight loss pill, Meridia, GlaxoSmithKline 's (nyse: GSK - news - people ) asthma drug, Serevent and Roche 's acne pill, Accutane all made the list.

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