A Year of Negotiations Ends With a New Agreement That Could Help More Than
40,000 Diet-Drug Victims
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was released today by
Majority Counsel:
Attorneys who represent Fen-Phen victims today announced that an amendment
to the Fen-Phen Trust, labeled the 7th Amendment, has been approved by both
sides and is filed before US District Judge Harvey Bartle III in Philadelphia.
The 7th Amendment will allow Wyeth to pay reduced settlements to more than
40,000 Fen-Phen victims.
The 7th Amendment creates a $1.275 billion fund for a new class of Trust
members who opt to receive reduced settlements upon final Court approval of
the Amendment, leaving what remains of the original $3.75 billion Trust to
help the victims who have ongoing health problems in years to come.
"The 7th Amendment is a real and meaningful solution to the Fen-Phen Trust
where payments are essentially nonexistent for the vast majority of claimants.
This solution preserves funding in the event claimants injured by diet drugs
progress to heart valve surgery or similarly serious conditions and allows
Wyeth to pay reduced settlements to more than 40,000 Fen-Phen victims with
non-surgical conditions," said Jerry Alexander, a victim representative and
member of the 7th Amendment Liaison Committee.
Representatives from Wyeth and the 7th Amendment Liaison Committee have
been working with Michael Fishbein, one of the attorneys representing the
victim class action, for more than one year on this agreement which is
designed to resolve up to 90% of the pending matrix-level claims currently
filed with the Wyeth Fen-Phen Trust.
"Thousands and thousands of Fen-Phen victims have been locked in a system
where they can't get the help they were promised. Now, some of those victims
have a way out -- a choice to settle immediately and know that there will be
funds available if their health declines," said Wayne Spivey, Chairman of the
7th Amendment Liaison Committee. "If this passes, it's a start.
Unfortunately this isn't a cure-all for everyone and we still have a long way
to go toward curing the problems of the Wyeth Fen-Phen Trust."
This agreement now requires judicial approval, and the stay on Trust
claims processing will continue during this process.
The Fen-Phen Trust was established in 2001 after the Mayo Clinic reported
that Pondimin, a drug sold by Wyeth as half of the Fen-Phen combination,
caused serious heart and lung damage. It was later reported that another Fen-
Phen ingredient produced by Wyeth, Redux, caused the same type of damage.
Since its creation, more than 90,000 cases have been filed with the
$3.75 billion Trust, and as of January 2004 fewer than 3,000 of these cases
were settled. Majority Counsel is a coalition of more than 45 firms and
150 attorneys representing the rights of over 45,000 victims who have been
damaged by Fen-Phen. For more information about Majority Counsel, please
visit: http://www.majoritycounsel.com .
SOURCE Majority Counsel
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.majoritycounsel.com
CONTACT:
Jennifer Ring, +1-214-871-7723, or
jring@allynco.com , for Majority Counsel
|
