Fen-phen: the defense strikes back

“Plaintiff lawyers have squeezed Wyeth for billions over its faulty weight-loss drugs. Now the company is pushing back with allegations of greed and wrongdoing.” The drug maker, which has paid out $13 billion since Redux and Pondimin were pulled off the market in 1997, thinks it can refute a huge portion of the 153,000 pending […]

“Plaintiff lawyers have squeezed Wyeth for billions over its faulty weight-loss drugs. Now the company is pushing back with allegations of greed and wrongdoing.” The drug maker, which has paid out $13 billion since Redux and Pondimin were pulled off the market in 1997, thinks it can refute a huge portion of the 153,000 pending claims. “They’re out to humiliate the plaintiff bar and its expert doctors by handing their evidence over to law enforcement officials and medical licensing boards.” Meanwhile, plaintiff’s lawyers are fighting bitterly among themselves over charges of inadequate class representation as well as poor case-screening (Robert Lenzner and Rob Wherry, “Bad Medicine”, Forbes, Sept. 1; Kelly Pedone, “Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Want Fen-Phen Class Counsel Tossed”, Texas Lawyer, Aug. 18)(see Sept. 27-29, 2002; May 30-Jun. 1, 2003).

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