Wyeth, which has set aside $16.6 billion to resolve
suits over damages caused by fen-phen diet combinations, must pay $1.013
billion to the family of a Texas woman who died from a lung disease after
taking weight-loss pills that the company makes, a jury ruled.
Jurors in Beaumont, Texas, deliberated six days before finding that Wyeth
was responsible for Cynthia Cappel-Coffey's death from primary pulmonary
hypertension (PPH), a lung- destroying disease linked to fen-phen use.
Jurors awarded the woman's family $113 million in compensatory damages and
$900 million in punitive damages. The family had asked for $1.1 billion in
total damages.
The verdict is the first in a PPH suit against Wyeth since fen-phen cases
started going to trial in 1999 and the seventh loss for Wyeth overall in the
fen-phen litigation. The company also has won two lawsuits against it by
former users of the diet aid.
Wyeth sought to resolve most fen-phen suits with a $3.75 billion settlement
with customers in 2000. More than 125,000 dieters agreed to accept payments
under the agreement. More than 70,000 fen-phen users opted to take their
cases to trial.
Most fen-phen suits allege damage to former users' hearts. PPH cases, which
involve lung damage, are a tiny fraction of the cases and aren't covered by
the 2000 settlement. Most PPH suits are costly to resolve because the
disorder is fatal.
Wyeth's first-quarter net income dropped to $749.7 million, or 56 cents a
share, from $1.28 billion, or 96 cents, a year earlier, the company reported
last week. The earlier figure included one-time profits from the sale of
Amgen Inc. stock. First-quarter sales rose 8.8 percent to $4.01 billion from
$3.69 billion, the Madison, New Jersey-based Wyeth said.
Wyeth shares, which have fallen about 40 percent since fen- phen cases
started going to trial in 1999, closed at $39.27 in New York Stock Market
composite trading Tuesday.
Lawrence Stein, general counsel for Wyeth, formerly known as American Home
Products, didn't return a call for comment on the verdict.
Wyeth, maker of Advil pain medicine and Chap Stick lip balm, hasn't ruled
out future additions to its $16.6 billion fen-phen reserve. Some analysts
say the company may need another $5 billion to resolve the remaining
diet-drug suits.
The case is Cappel-Coffey v. Wyeth, state district court, Beaumont, Texas.
04/27/04
