The chief financial officer of Wyeth expressed optimism on February 9th that tens of thousands of lawsuits by users of the recalled "fen-phen" diet drugs may be settled during the next year or two.

Pondimin (fenfluramine hydrochloride) and Redux (dexfenfluramine), the two drugs that made up the "fen" portion of what in the 1990s was the extraordinarily popular fen-phen diet drug combination, were pulled from the market on September 15, 1997.

Redux and Pondimin, when used in combination with phentermine (which remains on the market), allegedly caused heart-valve problems, primary pulmonary hypertension, and in some cases neurotoxic brain injury.

Even though the combined use of these drugs was never approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, physicians were free to prescribe it.

After Redux and Pondimin were withdrawn, tens of thousands of lawsuits were filed against their manufacturer, American Home Products (later renamed Wyeth), by dieters who had used the drugs.

Now, almost a decade later, Kenneth J. Martin, executive vice president of Wyeth, told the annual Merrill Lynch Global Pharmaceutical Conference held in New York: "I think there is reason to believe that it (the litigation) could get wrapped up in the next 12 to 24 months.

"We have about $5.7 billion in remaining reserves, and based upon what we see today, we think that is adequate," Martin said. "Our expectation is that 80 percent of that could be paid out over the next 12 to 24 months."

He expressed confidence that the class action settlement could be "wrapped up as early as March," and if not, by sometime in the summer.

As for the 60,000 users of the diet drugs who opted out of the class action settlement, "we have settled with or reached agreement in principle to settle with a bit over 30,000 of the 60,000 plaintiffs," Martin said.

"Of the remaining 30,000, four law firms control 25,000 cases. We are in discussions with everybody. We are cautiously optimistic that we can reach agreement. If we do, that's fine. If we don't, we have been pretty successful in court. We are not averse to continuing to try cases, and if that's what it takes, that's what we'll do," Martin added.

But overall, he concluded, "I think there is reason to believe that it could get wrapped up in the next 12 to 24 months."