Wyeth said on May 24th it has received final judicial approval for a revised legal settlement related to the long-since-withdrawn “fen-phen” diet drugs, bringing the pharmaceutical company one-step closer to finally resolving the claims of tens of thousands of Americans who used the drugs.

Wyeth said the latest agreement creates a new supplemental fund, into which the company ultimately will deposit $1.275 billion. Wyeth has set aside more than $21 billion to cover legal costs and settlements since the drugs were pulled from the market in 1997.

Pondimin (fenfluramine hydrochloride) and Redux (dexfenfluramine), which made up the "fen" portion of the popular fen-phen diet drug combination, were used by an estimated 5.8 million dieters in the 1990s in combination with phentermine (which remains on the market),

Redux and Pondimin were withdrawn after it was alleged that when used in combination with phentermine, they caused heart-valve problems, primary pulmonary hypertension, and in some cases neurotoxic brain injury.

Lawsuits subsequently were filed against their manufacturer, American Home Products (later renamed Wyeth), by tens of thousands of dieters.

Wyeth General Counsel Lawrence V. Stein said approval of the revised settlement, which will create a new claims processing structure and payment schedule for the least serious but most numerous claims, is "an important milestone in our broader effort to resolve the diet drug issue."