Alana Bowman, 57, took Pondomin to lose weight for seven months beginning in 1996. Pondomin was a form of the diet drug commonly known as Fen-Phen, which the FDA ordered off the market in 1997.

Three years after taking the drug, Bowman began to experience shortness of breath and was diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension, a degenerative and often fatal disease that constricts the arteries in the lungs. Today, Bowman must constantly breathe pure oxygen and has her heart sprayed every few seconds with the drug Flolan through a catheter and a refrigerated pump.

On Wednesday, Bowman settled her lawsuit against Wyeth, which made the Pondomin doctors believe caused her disease, for an undisclosed amount of money.

"Wyeth knew, and I stress knew, that (Pondomin) could cause PPH," said George Fleming, a lawyer from the Houston firm Fleming and Associates who represented Bowman. "This can never make up for what (Bowman) has lost, but we believe justice has finally been done."

Bowman's medical expenses can run between $150,000 to $200,000 a year, said Fleming.

Wednesday proved to be a bad day in court for Wyeth; the company settled another lawsuit against filed by county resident Donna Franz, who had also developed PPH after taking Pondomin, later in the afternoon.