Pfizer Seeking to Dismiss Fen-Phen Suits Over Lung Ailment

Pfizer Inc., whose Wyeth unit set aside more than $21 billion to settle lawsuits over the fen-phen diet drug, asked a judge to throw out claims that the pills caused a fatal disease years after users stopped taking them.

Pfizer’s lawyers asked 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-drug combination from the market in 1997 after it was linked to heart problems and PPH, an often-fatal lung ailment.