Fen Phen, a hugely popular diet drug prescribed in the mid-1990s is considered by many to be the number one risk factor for contracting primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH). No one knows why, but it seems that the drug, a combination of two drugs either Pondimin or Redux with phentermine "phen" causes the the tiny blood vessels in the lungs to contract.

Fen Phen is made of Redux (dexfenfluramine) and Pondimin (fenfluramine) the so-called the "Fen"s in the combination. Both were diet drugs manufactured by the large drug maker, American Home Products which has had to set aside billions of dollars to settle claims brought by people injured by the drug.

According to doctors who treat patients with Pulmonary Hypertension, those who contract it through Fen Phen and diet drugs, tend to have more severe cases.

Dr. Stuart Rich, one of the world's foremost authorities on PPH, writes of patients who have Pulmonary Hypertension related to diet drugs: "Although the syndrome is indistinguishable from primary pulmonary hypertension, our experience suggests these patients tend to have a more aggressive disease with a poorer prognosis than similar patients with PPH (Pulmonary Hypertension). This may be a result of the fenfluramines triggering a unique molecular pathway that produces pulmonary vasculopathy."

No one knows how many people have Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, but the number of new cases diagnosed has increased in the past 7 years. Physicians and PPH researchers have concluded that the cause of this increase is the diet drug combination: Fen Phen. Before these drugs were used by more than 6 million people in 1996 and 1997, the best estimates were that only one or two in a million people could get PPH. In the years since Phen Fen was used, the incidence has jumped to ten times that number by several estimates. According to a New England Journal of Medicine study, 1 in 20,000 Fen Phen users is at risk of getting PPH. Therefore, in taking Fen Phen, a person with a one in a million chance of getting PPH, dramatically increases that likelihood of getting this dangerous disease.

If you have taken Fen Phen and have PPH or the symptoms please contact our claims representatives who can inform you of your legal rights to treatment and a substantial compensation package.

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