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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What Problems Are Associated With Fen Phen?

A surge of Americans rushed to their doctors and clinics to get fen phen prescriptions when the weight loss drug emerged on the market. The drug’s combination of fenfluramine and phentermine made it experience immediate national popularity with its ability to effortlessly melt pounds away. While one drug suppressed appetite, the other drug worked to prevent drowsiness, and Americans believed they had stumbled upon a miracle diet drug.

The fen phen combination was never FDA approved, though, and health experts warned from the start that fen phen was only for the seriously obese, but Americans believed a miracle drug had been created and everybody seemed to want it. A former FDA reviewer Leo Lutwak was concerned, and he wrote an email to a colleague on September 24, 1996, saying the serious side effects linked to fen phen and the drugs’ marginal benefits “should be brought out.”

Lutwak was concerned with fen phen’s side effects and the opposition he met from the FDA and Wyeth, formerly known as American Home Products. For years Lutwak was frustrated, and he 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.”

On September 15, 1997, the FDA asked Wyeth to remove fen phen from the market, after millions of Americans had taken the diet pill. Use of the drug was linked to serious side effects like heart valve problems and a rare and deadly lung condition called primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH). What followed was a legal nightmare, which continues to this day.

On January 31, 2005, Wyeth’s shares plunged nearly eight percent after the company raised its estimate for the total cost of fen phen litigation for at least the fourth time since the drug was linked to deadly health risks. The company raised the fen phen litigation costs to $21.2 billion. The $1.76 billion fourth quarter loss in 2004 news shocked Wall Street, which sent its stock price lower on reports of higher than expected litigation and development costs.

The company said as many as 61,000 fen phen cases have yet to be resolved out of more than 70,000 filed thus far. Patients are alleging heart valve damage, primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), as well as other illnesses.

Heart Valve Damage:

Prior to the fen phen recall, Mayo Clinic researchers said it had a preliminary finding that heart disease in otherwise healthy patients was linked to fen phen. The unexpected findings were considered to have such a potentially large impact on public health that the New England Journal of Medicine released the information early. At the same time, the FDA began sending letters to thousands of doctors asking them to immediately check fen phen patients for heart valve problems and report them to the agency. The urgency with which both the journal and the U.S. government reacted to the heart valve damage information indicated the worrisome effects of fen phen on the high number of Americans taking the drug.

Former fen phen patients who have not had an echocardiogram or have not gotten a checkup should be aware of any symptoms indicating heart valve damage. Patients experiencing shortness of breath or chest pain should see a cardiologist.

Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPH):

An association between the rare and deadly lung condition primary pulmonary hypertension, or PPH, and fen phen has been made. Studies have shown it can take years before patients develop PPH, despite discontinuing the use of fen phen. Some experts believe the latency period between taking fen phen and suffering from PPH can be as long as 10 years or more. PPH causes the blood pressure in the pulmonary artery to rise above normal levels for no evident reason.

PPH cannot be cured, but some drugs can reduce symptoms. As of the end of 2004, Wyeth had paid out $13.9 billion because of fen phen liability.

Contact Us if you have sustained any deadly health complications such as primary pulmonary hypertension to collect your claims.

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