Fen-Phen Risks Won’t Color U.S. FDA Diet Pill Review

U.S. regulators won’t re-examine safety data from fen-phen, the recalled diet drug tied to heart damage, as they review a new generation of weight-loss pills led by Vivus Inc.’s Qnexa that use some of the same ingredients.

The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t need to revisit fen-phen’s risks because none of the new treatments contain the same chemical mix, Eric Colman, deputy director of the agency’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products, said today in a telephone interview.