PPH NEWS is an education-based resource site that provides information on the health issues surrounding Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPH), including what it is, the symptoms, diagnoses, and treatment options.
This website also provides resource to learn more about your legal rights and remedies if you or someone you know has developed PPH due to the use of diet drugs such as Fen Phen.

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Legal Rights Regarding Fen Phen

In 1997, popular diet drug fen phen was recalled, a combination treatment for obesity. The drug’s emergence on the U.S. market was met with open arms, and even though the FDA never approved the drug combination, an estimated 25 million prescriptions were written for the diet drug. Some medical experts were very concerned with the high use of fen phen among Americans who were not classified as obese, but the use of the drug continued to prosper, and seemingly overnight weight loss clinics began to spring up in order to accommodate the high demand of the diet drug.

When the link between fen phen and heart valve damage and a rare and fatal lung disorder called primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) was discovered, the drug’s previously highly held reputation as a “miracle pill” came to a crashing halt. Immediately, legal actions were filed against Wyeth, previously known as American Home Products.

Internal FDA evidence showed that concern regarding fen phen had existed years before any federal action was taken, allowing millions of people to continue being at risk for potentially deadly drug effects. Every additional year fen phen stayed on the market, an estimated 18 million more Americans were at risk for heart disease.

According to Leo Lutwak, a former FDA reviewer, his evaluations of fen phen’s adverse effects were met with resistance from both the FDA and from Wyeth. In a September 24, 1996 email to a colleague, Lutwak wrote, “The company has gotten away with much manipulation these past 3 years, of the public, of the press, of the FDA. I started getting upset about this drug in ’93 or ’94 and was running into a lot of blocks from the FDA and from the drug company.”

After the fen phen recall, tens of thousands of people took echocardiograms to see if they had heart valve damage caused by the diet pills. In 2000, a national class action lawsuit over the drug’s potential risks was settled. The company has put $16.6 billion in its fen phen reserve, but announced at the close of January 2005 that it set aside an additional $4.5 billion in the fourth quarter, warning of more fen phen charges to come. As of December 31, 2004, Wyeth had paid out $13.9 billion.

Though many have criticized the new fen phen charges as being unreasonable, as well as questioning the validity of some echocardiograms, after the fen phen recall, cardiologists issued guidelines for former diet drug users. Because of the significant and potentially deadly effects discovered among fen phen users, as well as the high number of Americans possibly affected by them, cardiologists urged former fen phen users to see their doctors to check for possible heart valve disease. If discovering heart murmurs in exams, the guidelines advised echocardiographs should be administered.

Wyeth said that as many as 61,000 fen phen cases have yet to be resolved out of more than 70,000 filed so far. The company sought to bar certain law firms from representing people involved in the settlement in January 2005, alleging attempts to “scam the system,” but for the former diet drug users that have suffered adverse health effects, the product liability cases have allowed access to the legal system, as well as some recourse for those who have suffered damages as a result. Contact Us if you have sustained any deadly health complications such as primary pulmonary hypertension to collect your claims.

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