The interest group Public Citizen has asked Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to bring criminal charges against Abbott Laboratories for illegally withholding information regarding its diet drug Meridia. According to Public Citizen, which obtained its information from an April U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection report, Abbott failed to inform the government of one death linked to Meridia and provided the FDA with inaccurate information in several reports concerning the drug's potential side effects.

In its letter to Secretary Thompson, Public Citizen also stated that FDA inspectors found that many Meridia case files were missing when it reviewed the Abbott Laboratories plant in Illinois. The FDA says it is still investigating the situation to determine what exactly happened. A spokesperson for Abbott denied the allegations saying they were "without merit."