LEGAL PRACTICE NEWS
The Bates Law Firm has completed the settlements for over 2,000 FenPhen clients in 2008. Thank you to all of our clients for helping us achieve justice and settlements from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
The Bates Law Firm has completed the settlements for all Zyprexa clients in 2008. Thank you to all of our Zyprexa clients for helping us achieve justice and settlements from Eli Lilly.
WARNING about Yamaha ATV vehicles. I personally own two ATV vehicles but I am aware that the Yamaha Rhino ATV has been negligently manufactured. The Yamaha Rhino ATVs design causes it to roll over at low speeds resulting in injuries and death. Please do not use a Yamaha Rhino ATV and if you know of someone injured by this machine then call us immediately.
Mesothelioma deaths are rising. You do not have to suffer alone. Call us today.
Drug companies continue to put profits ahead of safety. If you believe you were injured by a drug then call us for free information.
Call the BATES LAW FIRM now if you have medical issues resulting from
AUTO & TRUCKING Collisions
YAMAHA ATV roll over
MESOTHELIOMA
Smoking- cessation drug CHANTIX
Heart medication DIGITEK
Leukemia caused by BENZENE
Birth defects caused by PAXIL
Heart attack caused by AVANDIA
Blood clots or stroke caused by ORTHO-EVRA
MRI CONTRAST DYE containing GADOLINEUM
Heart problems caused by GUIDANT
Valve surgery or PPH caused by FENPHEN, PONDIMIN or REDUX
Lead fractures caused by MEDTRONIC defibrillation leads
Leaking DURAGESIC Patch
Jaw decay from FOSAMAX
VICIOUS DOG ATTACK
ABOUT FEN-PHEN
FDA ANNOUNCES WITHDRAWAL OF FENFLURAMINE AND DEXFENFLURAMINE
The Food and Drug Administration, acting on new evidence about significant side-effects associated with fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, has asked the manufacturers to voluntarily withdraw both treatments for obesity from the market. Dexfenfluramine is manufactured for Interneuron Pharmaceuticals and marketed under the name of Redux by Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, a subsidiary of American Home Products Corp. of Madison, N.J., which also manufactures and markets fenfluramine under the brand name Pondimin. Both companies have agreed to voluntarily withdraw their drugs. The FDA is not requesting the withdrawal of phentermine, the third widely used medication for obesity.
The action is based on new findings from doctors who have evaluated patients taking these two drugs with echocardiograms, a special procedure that can test the functioning of heart valves. These findings indicate that approximately 30 percent of patients who were evaluated had abnormal echocardiograms, even though they had no symptoms. This is a much higher than expected percentage of abnormal test results.
"These findings call for prompt action," said Michael A. Friedman, M.D., the Lead Deputy Commissioner of the FDA. "The data we have obtained indicate that fenfluramine, and the chemically closely related dexfenfluramine, present an unacceptable risk at this time to patients who take them."
 FDA recommends that patients using either of these products stop taking them. Users of these two products should contact their doctors to discuss their treatment.
These new findings suggest fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine are the likely cause of heart valve problems of the type that prompted FDA's two earlier warnings concerning "fen-phen," a combination of fenfluramine and phentermine. "Fen-phen" has been widely used off-label in recent years for the long-term management of obesity.
In July, researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation reported 24 cases of rare valvular disease in women who took the "fen-phen" combination therapy. FDA alerted medical doctors that it had received nine additional reports of the same type, and requested all health care professionals to report any such cases to the agency's MedWatch program (1-800-FDA-1088/fax 1-800-FDA- 0178) or to the respective pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Subsequently, FDA received 66 additional reports of heart valve disease associated mainly with "fen-phen." There were also reports of cases seen in patients taking only fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine. FDA requested that the manufacturers of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine stress the potential risk to the heart in the drugs' labeling and patient package inserts. FDA continues to receive reports of cardiac valvular disease in persons who have taken these drugs.
September 15, 1997
http://www.fda.gov/cder/news/fenphenpr81597.htm
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