fen-phen

or fen/phen

[ fen-fen ]

noun

, Pharmacology.

1. a drug that is a combination of fenfluramine and phentermine, formerly used in treating obesity but withdrawn from the market because of its potential to cause valvular heart disease.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fen-phen¹

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Safety problems in the 1990s with the anti-obesity treatment known as fen-phen, which had to be withdrawn from the market, were also fresh in their minds.

From Washington Times

Safety problems in the 1990s with the anti-obesity treatment known as fen-phen, which had to be withdrawn from the market, were also fresh in their minds.

From Washington Times

Safety problems in the 1990s with the anti-obesity treatment known as fen-phen, which had to be withdrawn from the market, were also fresh in their minds.

From Seattle Times

Compared with fen-phen, a popular weight-loss drug in the 1990s that was eventually linked to heart-valve problems, doctors are less concerned about semaglutide, because older drugs in its class have been used to treat diabetes for nearly two decades.

From New York Times

The ban was implemented in part because of concerns over the safety of weight-loss drugs at the time, such as the combination of fenfluramine and phentermine, or fen-phen, which was associated with life-threatening hypertension and heart valve issues.

From Scientific American