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Article: Out of circulation. (Redux and Pondimin weight-loss drugs withdrawn from sale)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 20, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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OF COURSE, if a drugs firm's research is wrong, then advertising and squeezing its suppliers will be a waste of effort. On September 15th an entire branch of the pharmaceuticals business learnt that lesson. Redux and Pondimin, once the world's best-selling weight-loss drugs, were withdrawn from sale, on evidence that they damage people's hearts. Other slimming drugs are likely to be caught up in the affair. So, too, is America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
For Wyeth-Ayerst, a division of American Home Products, a health-care firm, this is a disaster. When it launched Redux last year, many predicted that it would be the next billion-dollar drug. However, ...