Fen Phen

Pietr Hitzig was chasing fame and ignoring patients' needs when he cavalierly prescribed the now-banned fen-phen drug therapy as a treatment for everything from depression to drug addiction, federal prosecutors said yesterday. Closing the five-week trial of the former Timonium doctor, prosecutors described Hitzig as a "pill pusher" and asked a federal jury to find him guilty on 34 counts of illegally prescribing medicine to patients around the country, many whom he never met or examined.

In their case against Internet diet doctor Pietr Hitzig, federal prosecutors focused on fen-phen, the drug combination that the former Timonium doctor claimed could treat everything from obesity to drug addiction. But as the case heads to appeal after Hitzig's conviction Monday on 34 counts of illegally dispensing medicine, it could turn on two seemingly incidental charges involving the prescription painkillers Dilaudid and Percocet. Those two drugs are more strictly regulated than fenfluramine and phentermine, the "fen-phen" drugs which made up the remaining 32 charges.

Dr. Mark E. Molliver, a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine professor emeritus of neuroscience and neurology, died of complications after cardiac arrest May 10 at Hopkins Hospital. The Canton resident was 75. Colleagues said his discoveries had an impact on analyzing the structure of the brain and its response to drugs. "Mark was one of the country's greatest neuroanatomists," said Solomon Snyder, founder and longtime director of Hopkins' department of neuroscience.

Dr. Pietr Hitzig adjusts his headphones as he readies for a radio interview. It's been one day since major drug companies pulled their diet pills off the market, citing patients who (x experienced heart damage, and Hitzig's Timonium office is on full alert.On his desk is the Food and Drug Administration press release warning of the dangers associated with "fen-phen," the popular diet-pill combination he was instrumental in popularizing. On the phone is a national radio audience eager for his view on what to do next.

A Timonium doctor whose office was raided by federal agents investigating his use of the Internet in prescribing fen-phen to patients he had never met has filed for bankruptcy protection, saying the raid has nearly crippled his business.But Pietr Hitzig, who once called himself "the father of fen-phen therapy," said yesterday that he hopes to continue practicing "telemedicine" not only here but in other states."I'm still a player. The last hasn't been heard from me," said Hitzig, whose offices were raided Sept.

I was alarmed to see the news that fen-phen diet pills cause heart problems. The reports mention women only.I am a 47-year-old man and I have been on fen-phen for six months. It has helped me lose almost 20 pounds and I am reluctant to stop. On the other hand, I don't want to damage my heart. Are men susceptible to this problem?We wish we knew. This information from the Mayo Clinic is so new that it hasn't yet been published in the medical literature. It will appear in the New England Journal of Medicine in a few weeks.

Thank you for writing about possible side effects and the unknown long-term consequences of fen/phen.I am a personal fitness instructor and have helped several people change their lives and accept their less-than-perfect body types.The people I see on this drug combination have had little nutritional counseling.Fen/phen is helping reduce people's tendencies to overeat, but many are not opting for a balanced diet.Obese people have to decide for themselves that they are willing make difficult lifestyle changes, and then they need for the people in their lives to encourage them in every way, shape and form.

Two weeks after the Mayo Clinic suggested a possible link between two popular weight-loss drugs and a heart disorder, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has learned of 17 additional cases in states ranging from Maryland to California.The reports came in response to an FDA letter, dated July 8, asking doctors to document any cases of heart valve disease among patients who took diet pills used in a combination known as "fen-phen."The agency has yet to evaluate the reports, and the link between fen-phen and heart disease remains unproved.

MORRIS PLAINS, N.J. -- Warner-Lambert Co. said yesterday that it would hold merger talks with hostile suitor Pfizer Inc., moving away from a proposed $54 billion friendly combination with American Home Products Inc. Warner-Lambert said Pfizer's stock offer of $92.18 per share is "better financially" than the $63.59 per share value of the American Home merger agreement. Pfizer's hostile bid in November initially topped American Home's offer by $9 billion and since then the gap has widened to $24 billion.

The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that the nation's two most popular diet drugs, dexfenfluramine and Pondimin, or fenfluramine, would be pulled off the market because they may be linked to serious damage of patients' heart valves. Fenfluramine is half of the popular fen-phen combination, and dexfenfluramine is commonly known as Redux.The announcement has left many patients wondering what safe alternatives they now have to help them lose weight. The FDA said patients can continue to use the other half of fen-phen, phentermine, but some doctors doubt its effectiveness and are concerned with side effects.