Philadelphia, PAMany patients who took fen-phen and suffered fen-phen side effects such as primary pulmonary hypertension may have already settled their lawsuits against the company responsible for making the diet drug. Because fen-phen was pulled off the market so long ago, people might feel that lawsuits should already have been filed, and certainly some have. But for some patients, the statute of limitations has not yet run out.
The issue with fen-phen (a combination of fenfluramine and phentermine) was an increased risk of primary pulmonary hypertension, an incurable condition that can take more than a decade to develop. Lawsuits were filed with patients claiming they developed primary pulmonary hypertension as a result of their use of fen-phen.
But some patients may have initially filed a lawsuit linked to injuries less serious than primary pulmonary hypertension, only to have their less serious injuries develop into life-threatening conditions.
As recently as 2012, a judge hearing lawsuits regarding fen-phen refused to dismiss those lawsuits from the courts, ruling that there was enough scientific evidence to show that primary pulmonary hypertension could develop more than a decade after the patient took fen-phen. Pfizer Inc - parent company to Wyeth - had argued that there was no evidence that taking fen-phen could cause primary pulmonary hypertension a decade later, and moved to dismiss two lawsuits.
But Judge Bartle ruled that expert testimony for the plaintiffs was based on reasonable medical evidence. As a result, the judge refused to dismiss the lawsuits and further refused to exclude the expert testimony, though he did note that it is up to a jury to determine if taking fen-phen resulted in the development of primary pulmonary hypertension.
The ability of experts to argue that there can be a latency period between the time fen-phen was taken and the time primary pulmonary hypertension develops means that patients who did not suffer injury until well after taking fen-phen may still be eligible to file a lawsuit. In other words, for some patients the statute of limitations on filing a fen-phen lawsuit has not yet run out.
In most situations, the statute of limitations begins running at the point when a patient knows or should have known that the drug did or could cause injury. Patients who were not immediately harmed by fen-phen can still argue they did not know they were injured by the drug until recently and therefore may be able to file a lawsuit.
The lawsuit is In re Diet Drugs Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1203, US District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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