If I drink a bottle of Absolut Vodka and swallow several Tylenol tablets, I might suffer serious liver damage. Can I sue the liquor manufacturer and the maker of Tylenol? Sure, I can sue them for the color of the bottle! BUT, it's my stupidity to ignore the contraindications on the Tylenol bottle. Consumers are supposed to read these warnings. But its even worse when a doctor makes the stupid decision, because he/she is expected to know better.
If a doctor prescribed Phen/Fen to a patient, the doctor should be the liable party, not the drug company. If there are two medications that are not approved as a combination, and if my doctor prescribes them both with the intention that I use them together, I'm trusting that the doctor's making the right decision. After all, doctors know everything, right? WRONG! People trust their doctors to make the right decisions, but how often are doctors going to turn away a patient who wants to lose weight and tells the doctor he or she wants Phen/Fen? Sorry, not very often. Most physicians are very quick to prescribe drugs, even when there are other recommended courses of action.
The maker of Tylenol is not required to repeatedly warn consumers not to drink alcohol while using their product. But many people do it, and it's no secret (they don't drink a whole bottle, but many people use both products, and by chance it will happen at the same time for some).
Furthermore, IPIC should have even less liability than AHP, considering the few parties to whom IPIC marketed Redux. In addition, there were specific guidelines for which patients should use Fenfluramine or Redux (based on their Body Mass Index and any associated risk factors for cardiovascular disease). Doctors or weight loss clinics (including pill mills) who prescribed the FDA APPROVED medications to anyone but the high-risk or obese patients should be liable for misprescribing the meds.
In these cases, the drug companies should not be held liable, unless they had concealed info. about the drugs' adverse health effects. It's not their fault if the valve problems only recently showed up (because the drugs weren't tested long enough, due to the rapid FDA approval). If anything, the FDA should be held responsible. But I don't think so. Few drugs have no side effects. And for the APPROVED INDICATED USES for the drugs IN THE PROPER POPULATION, the side effects are acceptable. If a woman who wanted to lose 10 lbs. for a class reunion suffered ill health from the side effects of Redux, how can IPIC or AHP be considered liable? She should never have taken the drug!
But this is a litigious society in which many people will leap at the chance to blame someone else. They'll blame anyone but themselves. Also, the kind of people who would use Phen/Fen or Redux for cosmetic purposes (rather than diet & exercise) tend to be good at avoiding responsibility; the lawyers know this, and these "victims" make great clients. The real victims are the morbidly obese people who either suffered side effects, or those who are suffering from their obesity and inability to take a weight loss drug.
I find it interesting how the short-sellers have different moral and ethical opinions of liability. Are they so shallow that their trading decisions determine their opinions and feelings about the real world? That's quite pathetic, if true.
From what we've seen thus far, I don't see how IPIC should be liable. And although I don't like Wyeth Ayerst, I don't see them as much more liable than IPIC. And I'm long IPIC, but that has no bearing on my opinion of its liability. Frankly, even if I did think IPIC were liable, it might still be a good stock to hold.
Todd |
