Pfizer Inc. (PFE), whose Wyeth unit set aside more than $21 billion to settle lawsuits over the fen-phen diet drug, is asking a judge to throw out claims that the pills caused a fatal disease years after users stopped taking them. Pfizer’s lawyers will ask a federal judge in Philadelphia today to bar cases from going to trial that allege former fen- phen users developed primary pulmonary hypertension, also known as PPH, nine or more years after they last used the appetite suppressant. Wyeth withdrew the diet combination from the market in 1997 after it was linked to heart problems and PPH, an often- fatal lung ailment.
