Herbalife & Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) Lawsuit

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Although the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension has been associated with a number of different agents, the most worrisome associations are those linked to diet drugs that a large number of individuals all over the world have taken to aid in their weight loss attempts. Many of these diet drugs contained ephedra or its chemical counterpart ephedrine, which has been associated with the development of numerous cases of pulmonary arterial hypertension in thousands of individuals around the world. Some of these diet medications were so popular that it is impossible to estimate how many are at risk for developing pulmonary arterial hypertension because of their prior ingestion of these popular weight loss aids.

Some of the most popular weight loss medications that have experts and medical professionals worried are the Herbalife line of weight loss products. These products have been available in a number of different formulations since the early 1980’s and has currently reached over $1,000,000,000 in sales annually. Millions of individuals in dozens of nations have taken these products at some point in their lives.

Proponents for Herbalife products claim that the weight loss aids work by restricting the amount of calories a person consumes and providing vital vitamins and nutrients that the body needs to function properly. Some individuals use the products for meal replacement while others use the products as a supplement for proper diet and exercise. The advertising campaigns for these products offer testimonials from several different healthcare professionals attributing to the effectiveness of the Herbalife line.

The reason why products from Herbalife are such a concern for researchers studying the causes of pulmonary arterial hypertension is because Herbalife products used to contain sida cordifolia or Ma Huang as their active ingredients, two herbs that are known to contain ephedrine alkaloids. The ingestion of ephedrine has been strongly linked to the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension along with numerous other complications and life threatening conditions. The use of ephedrine in medications and dietary supplements was banned by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2004.

It is estimated that only one-fourth of the individuals that have developed pulmonary arterial hypertension are aware that they have the condition, mainly due to the fact that symptoms of the condition may not appear until the individual is in the later stages of pulmonary arterial hypertension. For some individuals, this can be as late as ten years after exposure to the agents or taking diet drugs that have been associated with the development of the condition. Even if the person stopped taking supplements containing ephedrine, such as the prior Herbalife products, many years ago, they still may be at risk for developing pulmonary arterial hypertension at some point in their life.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is considered a life threatening condition with no known cure. Because the condition typically remains undiagnosed until the person has reached the later stages of the condition, the mortality rate for people diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension is very high and the average survival time past diagnosis is low. It is estimated that half of the individuals diagnosed with a case of pulmonary arterial hypertension will not survive longer than three years past diagnosis.

Do I have a Herbalife or Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Lawsuit?

The Defective Drug Litigation Group at our law firm is an experienced team of trial lawyers that focus exclusively on the representation of plaintiffs in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPH) and Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (IPAH) lawsuits. We are handling individual litigation nationwide and currently accepting new Ephedra cases in all 50 states.

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