Wyeth's CFO said he was hoped tens of thousands of remaining product-liability lawsuits involving the company's recalled "fen-phen" diet drugs may be "wrapped up" within the next 12 to 24 months. The statement was made at an annual Merrill Lynch conference in NYC.
Wyeth has $5.7 billion in remaining fen-phen reserves. The spokesman said that roughly eighty percent of that could be paid out in the next one to two years.
Wyeth reported that it had settled or was nearing settlement with 30,000 former fen-phen users and was attempting to reach deals with a handful of law firms that represent another 25,000 plaintiffs.
A rep at Merrill said that Wyeth may need to take another $4 billion in fen-phen charges through 2010.
This news comes from several sources, including Yahoo, the ML site, and a Google News posting.
