Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

Slender at a price... Diet Drugs Users Seek Compensation for Heart Damage

When it first came out in the 1990s, "Fen-Phen," a combination of the diet drugs fenfluramine -- brand name Pondimin -- and phentermine seemed to be the miracle diet drug everyone had been waiting for. Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to their doctors for prescriptions. Appetites decreased, and pounds melted away.

On July 8, 1997, the Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory that revealed some unnerving findings at the Mayo Clinic. Twenty-four of the clinic's patients had developed heart valve disease after taking Fen-Phen. Five of them ended up in open-heart surgery, and eight more ended up developing pulmonary hypertension, a sometimes fatal disease of the heart and lungs.

The Mayo findings were reported in the August 1997 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, along with an FDA letter to the editor describing additional cases. The FDA began receiving more reports of heart valve disease associated mainly with Fen-Phen.

One day after the FDA issued its advisory, the national law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein filed the first national lawsuit against American Home Products, now known as Wyeth, makers of the diet drugs Pondimin and Redux. The lawsuit alleged the manufacturers had failed to properly warn physicians and consumers concerning the dangers of the diet drugs. Before long, clients across the nation hopped on board. Hundreds of Idahoans have added their names to the class-action lawsuit, while others have chosen to file individually.