Primary Arterial Hypertension News - Menu
Fen Phen Case Settles in Jefferson County Court
2/14/2006 - A lawsuit involving the diet drug Fen Phen settled in a Jefferson County court for an undisclosed, confidential amount.
The woman behind this suit is Southeast Texas resident Sherry Maniscalco, according to court documents.
The lawsuit alleges that Maniscalco suffered heart damage after using the diet drug, which contains an active ingredient called Pondimin and that the drug making, Wyeth, also knew Pondimin was dangerous.
This settlement comes after a Jefferson County jury awarded a Beaumont family over $1 billion in a similar case for the death of Cynthia Coffey back in April of 2004.
Controversial Diet Drug Verdict Raises Question Of County’s Image
4/28/2004 - Both sides of the legal community are speaking out, after a Jefferson County Jury awarded the Coffey family more than one billion dollars after the death of a Beaumont mother. The suit focused on Cynthia Cappel Coffey and the drug maker Wyeth who manufactured a component of the diet drug Phen-Fen. Coffey`s attorneys say the company is responsible for the woman`s death. Wyeth`s attorneys say they will appeal. People in the legal community are now slapping labels on Jefferson County, with some calling it a place for justice in the courts, and others saying it`s proof that Jefferson County is a "judicial hellhole." Jim Morris, President of the Southeast Texas Trial Lawyers Association:
"Jefferson county is still one of those places a plaintiff can get a fair shake in the courthouse."
Meanwhile, The American Tort Reform Association, or ATRA, who has named Jefferson County a judicial hellhole, calls the verdict outrageous:
"This is going to hurt other victims. When juries bankrupt companies with billion dollar verdicts it hurts everyone. It`s a big country--not just Jefferson County with one jury making a determination for the whole world."
Now Judge Donald Floyd is expected to enter a judgement on this case sometime in the next month. He could choose to enter the entire verdict or a lesser amount.
Coffey’s attorney`s says Wyeth will be racking up 80 million dollars in interest per month during the appeals process. Attorneys say since the jury actually decided that Wyeth engaged in conduct defined as a felony the cap on punitive damages does not apply
Jury Awards More Than $1 Billion In Diet Drug Case
4/27/2004 - A Jefferson County jury awarded a dead woman`s family over $1 billion for damages they say resulted from a diet drug. The ruling from Tuesday, could set a legal precedent across America. It was a controversial lawsuit over an active ingredient in the diet drug Fen-Phen. The suit focuses on Beaumont mother 41-year-old Cynthia Cappel Coffey, who died in January of 2003 after taking the drug.
Just after 3 pm Tuesday, the jury decided the family should get more than $1,013,583,000 from Wyeth Laboratories. Cappel`s was the first case to go before a jury, and alleged the drug caused primary pulmonary hypertension, a rare and deadly lung disease. Tune into KBTV4 Hometown News at 5,6 and 10 for the very latest in the decision and its ramifications.
Woman Asks That $1.3 Million Award In Fen-Phen Case Be Reduced
12/11/2003 - A woman awarded more than one-point-three (m)
million dollars by a jury last month for heart damage suffered
after she used the weight-loss drug Fen-Phen has asked her award be reduced by more than half.
A jury in Beaumont on November Sixth recommended Deborah Hayes
be awarded 810-thousand dollars for future medical expenses and
500-thousand dollars for future mental anguish.
In a motion to the court, Hayes` attorney suggested the jury`s
award for future medical care exceeded the amount supported by the
evidence and asked that her total award be reduced to about
590-thousand dollars.
Forty-six-year-old Hayes sued Fen-Phen maker Wyeth-Ayerst
Laboratories, claiming the combination of the drugs damaged a valve
in her heart. The postal worker said she took Fen-Phen for 90 days
over a six-month period in 1999.
A spokesman for Wyeth said today that the company believes the
evidence in this case supported neither the verdict nor the jury
award and intends to seek post trial relief and if necessary an
appeal.
Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Beneficial for Heart, Study Found
Men who suffer from erectile dysfunction have increased risk of heart problems, diabetes, high blood pressure or other related conditions.
Since the Food and Drug Administration gave Viagra® (sildenafil) its approval in 1998, “erectile dysfunction” has become a household term – probably to the chagrin of many parents fielding questions from their kids watching TV.
But with introduction of Levitra® (vardenafil) and Cialis® (tadalafil), many men have found answers to a once-unmentionable condition - the ED, or erectile dysfunction.
“As more and more patients seek therapy for sexual dysfunction, it is increasingly important for clinicians in a wide range of specialties to become proficient in the mechanisms and systemic effects of these medications,” said Ernst R. Schwarz, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who specializes in therapies for men who suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED) and have heart problems, diabetes, high blood pressure or other related conditions.
Schwarz and colleagues recently concluded a review to determine what actually is known about the effects of long-term use of erectile dysfunction drugs on various organ systems.
Studies so far suggest erectile dysfunction drugs, called phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE-5i), produce mostly beneficial results, and not just for erectile dysfunction.
The FDA recently approved a reformulation of erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil for the treatment of primary pulmonary hypertension, a disease that tends to occur in young women, causing elevated blood pressures in the lung that can lead to heart failure and early death.
“When we look at all the different organ systems – the blood, the heart, the lungs, blood flow in the brain – there are hardly any negative side effects. In fact, just the opposite is true. There are beneficial effects for primary pulmonary hypertension, as well as for conditions such as heart failure and lack of oxygen in the heart,” said Schwarz.
“The only issue is that the data we have are from relatively short-term studies. Viagra has been on the market since 1998 and the other two PDE-5 inhibitors were approved by the FDA in 2003. Therefore, we do not have multi-year follow-up studies. On the other hand, erectile dysfunction drugs have been on the market for several years now and there have been no reports of negative long-term effects.”
While there are some differences among the three erectile dysfunction medications, they have many properties in common and work by limiting the activity of the enzyme phosphodiesterase-5, which is found in tissues and vessels of the penis, blood platelets, and smooth muscle of blood vessels.
For the treatment of erectile dysfunction, the drugs’ constraint of the enzyme’s action results in increased levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and nitric oxide (NO), biochemicals that promote smooth muscle relaxation and increased blood flow in erectile tissue.
According to the article, PDE-5 inhibitors can be effective in treating erectile dysfunction even for many men who also have diabetes, those who are older, and those who have co-existing ischemic heart disease (reduced blood flow to the heart caused by plaque buildup in the arteries). Furthermore, say the authors, “since PDE-5 is found in smooth muscles of the systemic arteries and veins throughout the body, use of PDE-5i has been associated with various cardiovascular effects.”
“The original intention was to develop PDE-5 inhibitors as a treatment for angina, chest pain that occurs when the heart is starved for oxygen,” Schwarz said.
“As such, erectile dysfunction drugs effects on the heart appear to be all beneficial. Nitrates and other substances commonly used to improve blood flow and oxygenation to the heart muscle have a side effect that we call the ‘steal phenomenon,’ in which blood is taken away from underperfused (flow-restricted) areas to improve blood flow in normal areas. In contrast, PDE-5 inhibitors actually improve blood flow even in areas where there is a blockage of an artery, thereby having a protective effect on the heart muscle.”
The erectile dysfunction drugs’ potential impact on visual function became a matter of controversy when a suspected link between PDE-5 inhibitors and vision loss led to lawsuits filed last year against the maker of Viagra.
“Even though individual cases have been reported for all PDE-5i, these recently published data do not suggest an increased incidence of NAION (non-arteric anterior ischemic optic neuropathy) in men who took PDE-5i for ED,” the article states.
Source: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
|
