000100000t know was that a diet craze a popular diet drug called fen-phen wouldnt lead her to a slimmer waist, instead it would lead her to die in the arms of her fianc, months before her wedding day Consumers beware! Dispensing With the Truth is an inside look at the drug companies main motivationmoney. Fen Phen was approved in 1996 despite noted concerns about safety. American Home Products made the fen in fen-phen, a drug called fenfluramine. It sold the drug under the brand name Pondimin along with a chemical cousin called Redux (Doctors Guide, 1998). The drug companies worked against the FDA, the one agency in place to regulate the safety of their products. These pills were targeted to specific a consumer. The drug companies counted on pink collar women, who were not truly obese, or old, just wanting to lose 20 or so odd pounds. The companies carefully orchestrated a diet drug fad that made them hundreds of millions of dollars. When reports started flooding in about serious side effects of the drugs these companies consistently downplayed the warnings. Instead the companies chose to fight the recommendations of the FDA to include black box warnings, which would put clear labeling alerting consumers and doctors to possible risks. They also hired experts and conducted studies to try to prove their product safe. Ultimately American Home Products pulled Pondimin and Redux off the market in 1997 after a Mayo Clinic study linked fenfluramine to potentially fatal heart valve damage and pulmonary hypertension (Doctors Guide, 1998). American Home Products began a nearly $100 million public relations spin in order to ward off paying damages and risking punishment by the government. During the summer of 2000, American Home Products agreed to settle the major class action lawsuit pending against the company for approximately $12 billion. Individuals harmed by fen-phen will receive between $5,000 and $1.5 million each, depending on the s...
