Abbott's Meridia weight-loss drug pulled in Europe on heart risk

Abbott Laboratories' Meridia weight-loss pill should be taken off the market in Europe because the risk of heart attack or stroke outweighs the medicine's benefits, the European Medicines Agency said.

The agency, the European Union's drug regulator, reviewed evidence from a study that followed 10,000 patients for as long as six years, the EMEA said today in a statement. Doctors should stop prescribing Meridia, known by its chemical name sibutramine, and pharmacists should no longer dispense it, according to the statement.

The medicine, sold as Reductil, Reduxade and Zelium in the European Union, is used for obese patients and in overweight patients who have risk factors such as Type 2 diabetes, the London-based agency said. The EMEA's recommendation to suspend the sale of the drug will be sent to the European Commission for adoption.

Abbott's shares fell 77 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $55.47 at 1:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Abbott is based in Libertyville Township.