CNN, Anne Harding, Health.com, September 1, 2010
Overweight people with a history of heart disease who take the prescription weight-loss drug Meridia may be at increased risk of heart attack or stroke, according to a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study confirms longstanding concerns about the safety of Meridia in people with heart disease and other heart problems, who are already warned against taking the drug.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee is scheduled to meet later this month to discuss the possibility of …

New York Times, Andrew Pollack, July 15, 2010
A federal advisory committee voted narrowly against endorsing a drug vying to become the first new prescription medicine for obesity in more than a decade, signaling heightened concerns for possible health risks associated with a new generation of diet pills.
The advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration voted 10 to 6 that the safety concerns, like increased heart rate, possible birth defects and psychiatric problems, overrode the potential benefits of the drug, called Qnexa and developed by Vivus.
The meeting was closely watched …

Sale of drugs that do NOT (I repeat do NOT) make you thinner is expected to grow 11.5% per year.
Kathlyn Stone, January 24, 2010
They were right about the growth in vaccine sales. Now industry analysts predict anti-obesity drugs will be the next big success story in the pharmaceutical industry.
GlobalData’s newest report  predicts the global market for anti-obesity drugs – now valued at $1.4 billion – will grow 11.7 percent each year over the next seven to reach $3.1 billion by 2016.
Fueling the industry’s interest is the alarming obesity epidemic …