The verdict is the first in a lawsuit by one of the thousands of consumers who refused to join the company's $3.75 billion class-action settlement of fen-phen litigation. The award for Deborah Hayes is also the sixth fen-phen case Wyeth has lost since it yanked the drugs off the market in 1997.

``This sends a message that this is a serious condition and juries are capable of appreciating that,'' said Jim Morris, a lawyer representing the 46-year-old Hayes.

The state court verdict in Beaumont, Texas, comes two weeks after Wyeth officials announced they were taking a third-quarter loss to set aside another $2 billion for fen-phen lawsuits. The company has reserved a total of $16.6 billion to cover the cost of defending and settling fen-phen cases.

Doctors wrote more than 6 million prescriptions for the fen- phen combination of diet pills, which included Wyeth's Pondimin or Redux drugs and generic phentermine, before the products were pulled from the market in 1997. The company began settling fen- phen suits after some juries concluded it hid the combination's health risks. Wyeth has won just one of seven fen-phen cases that have gone to trial.

Officials of Madison, New Jersey-based Wyeth weren't immediately available for comment on the verdict today. The Texas jurors deliberated a total of seven hours before concluding Wyeth's diet drugs were responsible for Hayes' heart damage.

Wyeth shares fell 20 cents to $42.84 at 2:58 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange.

Rejected Settlement

Company officials said earlier this year that 90,000 former fen-phen users have chosen to sue Wyeth individually rather than join the nationwide settlement.

Under that accord, the company set aside $1 billion for future medical checkups for former diet-drug users who have shown no adverse symptoms, and $2.35 billion to resolve individual suits.

The class settlement allows consumers unhappy with the compensation provided under the accord to opt out and take their claims to trial. They can't seek punitive damages, however. Hayes is the first of these so-called ``intermediate opt-outs'' to have her case considered by a jury.

Hayes, of Lumberton, Texas, testified during her two-week trial that she took the diet drugs for six months in 1996 and later was diagnosed with mild damage to her heart valves.

Jurors awarded Hayes $812,480 for her past and future medical bills in connection with the heart problem and $550,000 for her past and future mental anguish over the illness.

Wyeth's lawyers vowed to ask Judge James Sanderson to reduce the award because Hayes' lawyers only sought $35,000 for her future medical expenses.

``There's no evidence that she needs future medical expenses in that amount,'' said Bill Sims, a Houston-based lawyer for the company.