fen-phen

noun

ˈfen-ˌfen 

1

: a former diet drug combination of phentermine with either fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine

called also phen-fen

2

: an herbal preparation typically containing ephedra and Saint-John's-wort that was used as an appetite suppressant until one of its ingredients (ephedra) was banned in the U.S. by the FDA in 2004

Herbal fen-phen users who take a cough or cold remedy containing decongestants, which are similar in action to ephedra, are unwittingly double-dosing on stimulants.

—Richard Harkness

Examples of fen-phen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That practice had to alter during the fen-phen diet drug combo craze in the late-1990s. —Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 13 Jan. 2025

In 2009, disbarred Lexington attorney William Gallion was found guilty of defrauding hundreds of his clients out of tens of millions of dollars they were owed in the settlement of a lawsuit over the diet drug fen-phen, which was pulled from the market over potential damage to heart valves. —Josh Wood, The Courier-Journal, 23 Dec. 2024

Safety problems in the 1990s with the anti-obesity treatment known as fen-phen, which had to be withdrawn from the market, were also fresh in their minds. —Amanda Seitz, Fortune, 28 Dec. 2023

One weight loss drug, fen-phen, was taken off the U.S. market in the late ‘90s because it was linked to serious heart problems. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr., NBC News, 11 Nov. 2023

Approximately 18 million prescriptions were written for this medicine until 1987, when an association was made between the use of fen-phen and valve diseases of the heart. —Dr. Keith Roach, oregonlive, 28 Aug. 2023

Since weight-loss drugs have a long and sordid history of being deadly (remember fen-phen? —Tamar Haspel, Washington Post, 25 Apr. 2023

When drugmakers pulled the weight-loss drug fen-phen off the market in 1997, my mom was devastated. —Jolie Myers, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018

Word History

Etymology

fenfluramine + phentermine

First Known Use

1993, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

fen-phen

noun

ˈfen-ˌfen 

1

: a former diet drug combination of phentermine with either fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine that was used as an appetite suppressant in the treatment of obesity but was voluntarily withdrawn from the market in 1997 due to its association with heart disease

called also phen-fen

2

: an herbal preparation typically containing ephedra and Saint-John's-wort that was used as an appetite suppressant until one of its ingredients (ephedra) was banned in the U.S. by the FDA in 2004

called also phen-fen