$5.5 million awarded to Utah fen-phen users

A jury decided that two former users of Wyeth's Pondimin, part of the fen-phen diet drug combination, deserve $5.5 million in damages, while two others weren't seriously injured and shouldn't get anything.

The Philadelphia state court jury today ruled that the four plaintiffs, Utah residents who took the diet drug for varying periods, showed symptoms of heart-valve leakage. A liability phase of the trial begins next week to determine whether Wyeth must pay the damages.

The trials are the latest in Philadelphia to focus on claims concerning Wyeth's now-withdrawn diet drugs. Over the past eight months, other Philadelphia juries have rejected claims by former users or said individuals who once used the appetite suppressant deserved as much as $780,000. The company faces thousands of other claims in the court.

Wyeth "needs to reconsider trying these cases," said Houston-based lawyer Rand Nolen. "What juries hear is that these people have been hurt, and juries respond and react to that."

Madison, New Jersey-based Wyeth said on Jan. 31 that it would add $4.5 billion to its reserve to cover legal liability in the so-called fen-phen cases, bringing to $21.1 billion the amount set aside to resolve the litigation. Wyeth incurred a $1.76 billion fourth-quarter loss due to the reserve increase.

Lawrence V. Stein, Wyeth's general counsel, said in a statement, that "the amounts awarded in these cases are grossly excessive and unsupported by the evidence."

Nolen represents Stephen Schultz, Marilyn Lyman, Camille Olsen and Isabel Vega. The jury recommended $5 million for Vega and $500,000 for Olsen, Nolen said.

Wyeth removed the diet drugs Pondimin and Redux from the market in 1997 after researchers linked them to heart and lung problems in some users. Those drugs were used with the generic phentermine in the fen-phen combination.

Doctors wrote more than 6 million prescriptions for the diet-pill combination, which included Wyeth's Pondimin or Redux drugs and the generic drug phentermine, before the products were pulled off the market in 1997. The company withdrew the drugs from pharmacies after researchers linked them to heart problems and a fatal lung disease in some users.

The Philadelphia cases involve former fen-phen users who declined to participate in the company's $3.75 billion class-action settlement and chose to go to trial separately.

Shares of Wyeth, which reported $17.3 billion in sales last year, rose $1.18 to $41.92 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 4:18 p.m. The stock has risen 12 percent in the last year.