S&P: Wyeth unaffected

Standard & Poor's said Tuesday that the announcement that a Texas judge has upheld the $1 billion jury verdict against Madison, N.J.-based pharmaceutical company Wyeth (A/negative/A-1) does not have an impact on the current rating or outlook on the company.

The verdict is related to a case in which Wyeth's now-withdrawn diet drugs, Pondimin and Redux (fen-phen), allegedly caused a fatal disease, primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH). Wyeth is in the midst of trying to settle all the diet drug litigation cases, with the PPH cases potentially the most serious exposure, on an individual basis.

Wyeth recently reported that it has about 350 lawsuits, as of April 30 in which the plaintiff alleges a claim of PPH. While the award amount is much larger than S&Ps expected, Wyeth will appeal the verdict and the appeal will likely be an 18-month to two-year process.

S&P said it will wait for the outcome of the appeal and then determine what, if any, impact it will have on the remaining PPH cases.

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