Phentermine is an appetite suppressant of the amphetamine and phenethylamine class.It is approved as an appetite suppressant to help reduce weight in obese patients when used short-term and combined with exercise, diet, and behavioral modification. It is typically prescribed for individuals who are at increased medical risk because of their weight and works by helping to release certain chemicals in the brain that control appetite.

In the decade since the diet drug fen-phen was taken off the market, the FDA says, steps have been taken to improve drug monitoring. But critics say the federal agency is still far too chummy with the pharmaceutical industry.

Doctors believe that Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPH) is on the rise. And judging from the amount of PPH class action lawsuits [filed], so does the legal profession. PPH is one of the most insidious of illnesses because it can take up to ten years or more to be diagnosed: people who took diet drugs such as Fen Phen or Redux in the 1990s

Ten years after the Mayo Clinic study that lead to the recall of the diet drug fen phen, more and more cases of primary pulmonary hypertension are emerging in former fen phen users, and lawsuits are on the rise.

Many PPH sufferers think the statute of limitations has come and gone regarding lawsuits against diet drugs Pondimin (fenfluramine) and Redux (dexfenfluramine). But you can still join a PPH class action lawsuit if PPH was linked to Fen Phen.

"I was prescribed Redux for weight loss back in 1996, but I only took it for a month or so because it made me feel anxious and edgy," says Ed Davis. "I was fearful of taking it anymore." And so he should have been: diet drugs Redux and Fen-Phen have been linked to heart valve problems and Pulmonary hypertension, known as PPH.