Williams Bailey Law Firm, L.L.P., and Blizzard, McCarthy & Nabers, LLP, announced today a $200 million jury verdict delivered in Philadelphia on behalf of two women who suffered heart-valve damage as a result of taking the diet drug "fen-phen." The women will apply the award to future medical treatments for the drug's on-going side effects.

In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration announced the withdrawal of fen- phen, named for a combination of the drugs fenfluramine and an appetite suppressant called phentermine. Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, of Madison, New Jersey, manufactured the drugs fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine under the names Pondimin and Redux. The combination of Pondimin and Redux with phentermine resulted in serious health problems.

"In this case, both of these women suffered permanent injuries and scarring to their heart because they took fen-phen," said Steven J. Kherkher, a partner at Williams Bailey, who helped represent the plaintiffs. "This damage to their hearts likely will get worse and may require that they undergo open-heart surgery."

"We have over 2,000 cases just like this one in Philadelphia alone," noted Scott Nabers, a partner at Blizzard, McCarthy & Nabers. "We are confident that future juries will look at the avalanche of scientific evidence and come to the same conclusion that this jury did: Wyeth's product caused life- threatening injuries."