Fen-phen trial dates come up, spurring national settlement discussions.

Lawyers for millions of plaintiffs suing for injuries caused by the once-popular diet drug combination called fen-phen have been meeting with defense lawyers to discuss a possible nationwide settlement of all claims.

Paul Rheingold, a New York City lawyer who represents fen-phen plaintiffs, said lawyers for the pharmaceutical company American Home Products Corp. (AHP) recently met with plaintiff attorneys in three cities to review settlement options. The company, through its subsidiary, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, marketed fenfluramine (the "fen" half of fen-phen) and its chemical cousin, Redux. Both drugs were taken off the market in 1997 after a Mayo Clinic study linked them to potentially fatal heart valve damage.

Although preliminary, the talks were significant because they indicated that American Home Products is interested in avoiding going to trial on the reported 2,615 suits against it, Rheingold said.

In recent months, two cases against the company have come before courts in Texas. In April, AHP settled the first fen-phen case to go to trial just one week into the plaintiff's presentation in the Johnson County District Court. The plaintiff reportedly agreed to accept $500,000 to drop the lawsuit. (Charles Ornstein, Fen-phen Maker Settles Suit for $500,000, Dallas Morning News, Apr. 9, 1999, at Al.)

In May, a judge in Canton, Texas, declared a mistrial in a case after lawyers said they couldn't seat an impartial jury because too many prospective jurors had concluded that fen-phen was dangerous. Trial has been rescheduled for July. (Mistrial Declared in Fen-phen Trial, N.Y. Times on the Web (visited May 18, 1999), http://www. nytimescom/aponline/f/AP-Diet-Drug-Trial. html.)

The company has reportedly settled at least five other cases before trial for amounts ranging from $1.5 million to $4.6 million. Several cases are now scheduled to come to trial this summer, and that is likely what spurred AHP to open negotiations for a national settlement, Rheingold said.

"They've done some depositions that showed that they engaged in very bad conduct, and they've adopted the worst of all possible settlement tactics--settling each case as it comes along," Rheingold said. "How long can they just go on ... and not have a bigger plan?"

Rheingold declined to predict how much the company would have to pay into a national settlement, saying it is too early to put a price tag on it. But, he noted, "Everyone has said it would be billions [of dollars]."

Whatever the amount, any national settlement will take years to work out, Rheingold said. He said negotiations will be complicated by the fact that any settlement will have to take into consideration not only claims by people who have suffered injury but also claims filed by people who show no sign of injury now but who want AHP to pay for continued medical monitoring of their conditions in case future problems arise.