Former Fen-Phen Users Blame Wyeth for Lung Disease

By William Murphy

Published on December 05, 2006

In a suit filed Dec. 5 in state court in Philadelphia, Renee Tedesco, wife of Paramus, New Jersey, mayor James Tedesco, alleges that Wyeth knowingly ignored the dangers of Pondimin and Redux and intentionally spread disinformation about the drugs and their link to primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), a potentially fatal lung disease. Renee Tedesco was diagnosed with PPH in April 2006, 10 years after she started using fen-phen. She had a double lung transplant in November.

Pondimin and Redux were prescribed with generic phentermine by doctors to more than 6 million users before the diet drug combination was linked to heart damage and PPH and pulled from the market in 1997. Wyeth says it has settled nearly all of the 175,000 previous lawsuits filed by fen-phen users, mostly claiming heart damage. The company originally set up a $21 billion reserve to resolve litigation. According to Wyeth, more than $3 billion remains.

The four other women suing Wyeth for PPH claims are from West Virginia, Illinois, and Indiana.

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