by Nina Wasserman
Herald News

HACKENSACK - A 30-year old woman has joined a class action suit filed in Bergen County against the drug company that created the dangerous weight loss drugs Redux and Pondimin.

Riva Alpert's attorney, Joseph A. Santoli, claims she is the first in the county to claim to have the heart valve damage now known to be associated with the drug.

Alpert claims she took the drug for five months to lose around 20 pounds, Santoli said. As a result of her heart valve problem, she apparently suffers from recurring tingling and swelling in her hands and feet.

Santoli, who filed the class-action suit less than three weeks ago, said Alpert has no history of heart problems. Alpert's suit was filed in state Superior Court, Hackensack, on Friday.

After being on the market for about two years, a study this summer showed that the drug can cause the heart valves to thicken in 32 percent of 291 patients evaluated. The thickening brings on a higher risk of heart failure because the heart has to work harder to pump blood.

Santoli, however, said there may be another culprit in the fiasco — the doctors. He said some patients who were given the drug were not eligible to receive it. Doctors allegedly gave prescriptions to women who were not necessarily obese, but who wanted to lose a couple of pounds for cosmetic reasons.

Santoli said that he has one client — whose suit will be filed shortly — who was prescribed the drug in order to lose five pounds.

Although the drugs were known to cause pulmonary hypertension when they hit the market in 1995 and 1996, federal officials considered the risks of obesity to be greater, so the drug was put on the market to be targeted for short-term use in the treatment of obesity.

American Home Products, based in Madison, has no comment while litigation is ongoing, said spokeswoman Sharon McCullen.

An information number set up for those who used the drug has a recorded message saying the company withdrew the drug and is "taking this action based on new data regarding abnormal heart valve findings in patients using this medication most often in combination with phentermine."

Echocardiograms — which cost about $800 — have been suggested for those who took the drugs and are suffering from heart-related symptoms, but the drug company hasn't offered to pay for them. However, not every one who took the drugs is recommended to have a test done.

Manufactured by American Home Products and its subsidiary Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, Pondimin, or fenfluramine, and Redux, or dexfenfluramine, were often taken along with phentermine, which is like an amphetamine, hence the popular combination known as fen-phen.

Both drugs had high rates of sales, with Redux at one point averaging 80,000 prescriptions per week and Pondimin selling more than 100,000 prescriptions weekly.

Through the suit, Santoli said he is trying to get the drug companies to take some level of responsibility by paying for the echocardiograms and returning the money to those who bought the drugs. The suit also charges American Home Products and Wyeth with negligence and failing to warn consumers that the drug can be harmful.