Legal News You Can Use

 The New York Times (1/23, B3, Singer, Pollack) notes that a recent study has indicated that people who take the prescription diet drug Meridia “had more heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems than people getting a placebo.” However, the Times said that the data drew “two starkly different reactions” last week from European and American regulators. While the European Medicines Agency advised doctors and pharmacists to stop prescribing and dispensing the drug, the US Food and Drug Administration “took a less forceful step and asked Abbott Laboratories, the maker of Meridia, to put a stronger warning on its label.” The agency “said it planned to wait for the company’s complete report on the study…before considering further action,” although “some obesity experts question the [FDA’s} decision to leave Meridia on the market for people who do not have cardiovascular disease.”