What she's doing is basically presenting the plaintiffs' case. Last summer's settlement of a nationwide class action suit involving some 365,000 individuals who took the drugs will be finalized when a federal court rules on remaining appeals, slated for a hearing this month. The settlement is designed to benefit former users whether or not they were part of the legal class. The first prescriptions were written in 1994. After researchers in July 1997 publicly tied use of the drugs to a higher risk of heart valve disease, Wyeth-Ayerst pulled both drugs from the market.
Former users can also sue the company for personal damages.
Thousands of individual suits involving fen-phen are still pending, according to attorney Michael Fishbein, chief architect of the settlement. News Jobs AP Shopping Archives Entertain.