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Lawsuits

The controversy surrounding phentermine is mostly dealing with it in combination with fenfluramine. Back in 1997, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a study with fen-phen. They determined that, of those users who had heart valve damage, those who had taken higher dosages of the medicine had more severe damage than the others. It was established that a higher dosage of fenfluramine created this effect; the dosage of phentermine did not appear to change results but its effect could not be ruled out ("Fen-Phen Dosage Predicts"). Phentermine seemed to be the safer drug, and that is why it continues to be on the market.

There were many lawsuits in relation to fen-phen usage. Some are still pending today. Paul Rheingold of New York established the Association of Trial Lawyers, a group of 100 lawyers organized to sue the manufacturers of fen-phen. Rheingold believes that American Home Products, producer and distributor of fen-phen brands Pondimin and Redux, knew of the possible hazards of the drugs and did not warn its users. The organization also is suing doctors they believe prescribed the drug cocktail recklessly. The problem with these lawsuits is that it is not known how many of the users developed heart valve disease because of fen-phen or if it was a preexisting condition. There were no tests before the use of the medication (Cowley and Springen).

Nevertheless, lawsuits are being settled in favor of the fen-phen users. The drug company Wyeth set up a trust fund for the compensation of those people who were injured while using fen-phen. The company believes there are those falsely claiming they were harmed while using the drug to gain money; the alliance of lawyers says that the company is just stalling, trying to prevent those who truly deserve compensation from receiving it. These are matters that are still being decided (Abelson and Glater)