Settlement Reached In Fen-Phen PPH Suit

Beaumont, TXA settlement has been reached in a ground-breaking lawsuit that saw the family of woman who died from Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPH) after taking Fen-phen receive an award of over one billion dollars. The award would have tested the statutory cap that limits punitive damages in Texas; punitive damages in this lawsuit were awarded at $900 million.

However, both sides agreed to a settlement after Wyeth, makers of Fen-phen, appealed the award.

The woman's husband and three daughters filed a wrongful death lawsuit after she died from PPH. She had taken Fen-phen in order to lose weight. The plaintiff's lawyers argued that Wyeth "knowingly or intentionally destroyed, altered or concealed public documents."

Details of the settlement have not been made public. However, Wyeth has paid more than $21 billion related to fen-phen lawsuits since the drug was pulled from the market.

Fen-phen was pulled from the market in 1997, after studies showed that 30 percent of patients on fen-phen had abnormal echocardiograms. At the time Fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, the "Fen" portion of fen-phen, were pulled from the market, around six million Americans had used them.

Many patients developed PPH after taking fen-phen. In fact, studies show using fen-phen increased the risk of developing PPH by up to 30 percent. Unfortunately, PPH may not show up for years after taking fen-phen so people who took the drug before it was recalled are still at risk of developing PPH.

PPH is an abnormally increased blood pressure in the blood vessels of the lungs that has no other obvious causes. PPH eventually leads to heart failure. Some advances in medicine have led to longer life expectancies for people diagnosed with PPH; however, it currently has no known cure. The average survival time for patients is three years after PPH is diagnosed.

Lawsuits against Wyeth allege that Wyeth knew about the dangers associated with fen-phen and failed to warn the public of those risks. Furthermore, plaintiffs argue that Wyeth did not exercise care in the manufacturing, selling, or testing of fen-phen and marketed fen-phen as being safe when it was not. Finally, they argue that important information was intentionally withheld from the public, including Wyeth ignoring the FDA's recommendations that a "black box" warning be included on the labeling of fen-phen.

People who took fen-phen should have a complete physical examination with an emphasis on the heart or lungs, even if they do not currently have any symptoms.