113 Cases Against Abbott Labs Dismissed

Abbott Laboratories Inc. said a federal court had dismissed 113 cases in which plaintiffs alleged that they were harmed by using the company’s Meridia anti-obesity drug, the lion’s share of all cases pending in the United States.

Abbott said the U.S. District Court in Cleveland last week ruled that the plaintiffs failed to come forward with sufficient scientific evidence to support the claims.

An Abbott spokeswoman said only seven other product-liability cases remain pending against Meridia, all in various state courts.

Public watchdog group Public Citizen had asked U.S. regulators to recall the medicine, claiming it posed a variety of health risks.

Meridia, launched in 1997, had global sales of $275 million last year.