Posted on 10/11/2007 5:43:15 PM PDT by Chesner
RENO, Nev. - A jury levied a $134.5 million judgment against pharmaceutical giant Wyeth in a lawsuit filed by three Nevada women who claimed the company's hormone replacement drugs caused their breast cancer.
It was the largest award to date against the Madison, New Jersey-based company, which faces about 5,300 similar lawsuits across the country in state and federal courts.
"These are very large numbers for compensatory damages," said Howard Erichson, a law professor at Seton Hall University. "It has to be troubling for Wyeth because dollar figures like these suggest the jury entirely accepted the plaintiff's version of the story and was not kindly disposed to Wyeth at all."
All the lawsuits involve the drugs Premarin, an estrogen replacement, and Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin. The drugs are prescribed to women to ease symptoms of menopause.
The Reno panel deliberated for two days before announcing its verdict late Wednesday in favor of Jeraldine Scofield, 75, of Fallon; Arlene Rowatt, 67, of Incline Village; and Pamela Forrester, 64, of Yerington.
The same five-man, two-woman jury will return to the courtroom Friday to consider punitive damages against the drug maker.
Wyeth spokesman Doug Petkus on Thursday said the company would have no comment because the case was not finished. Washoe District Judge Robert Perry issued a gag order early in the proceedings.
But in an e-mail to The Associated Press, Petkus said 20 similar cases have gone to trial or been otherwise resolved. Of those, he said three resulted in favor of the company, two plaintiff verdicts were set aside by the courts, and three cases were dismissed on summary judgment.
Twelve other cases were voluntarily dismissed by plaintiffs before trial, he said.
During the Reno trial, Wyeth lawyers argued that the drugs are safe and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They also said information about possible risks is included with every prescription and provided to the women's doctors.
They also argued that the women had other risk factors, making it impossible to link their cancer with the hormone replacement drugs.
All three women were awarded $7.5 million in past damages. Jurors also awarded $36 million each to Scofield and Rowatt for future damages, and $40 million to Forrester.
After the verdict was announced, the women hugged their attorneys and cried, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
"You so deserved this," one lawyer, Zoe Littlepage, told them. "You so, so deserved this."
Geoffrey White, another lawyer for the women, also deferred comment Thursday until after the punitive phase. He said his firm represents 102 other women in Nevada pursuing cases against Wyeth.
The drug company reached an undisclosed settlement last October with a fourth woman who had been part of the Washoe District Court lawsuit.
Carol McCreary was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001 after taking Prempro for about three years. Her case was settled just days before her trial was to begin.
"I am happy to get on with my life and not spend the next several weeks in a courtroom," she said in a statement soon after the settlement was reached.
McCreary, 59, died in April.
Wyeth shares dropped 38 cents Thursday to $45.78
I guess grandmas and moms will start dipping into their daughter's birth control packs.
As a physician I do not understand this law suit. Medical research not that of the Pharm Companies said for years to give hormone replacemnt to women. Now they decided no and the drug companies are going to go broke. They are just hitting the deep pocket. I hate our tort laws.
There are GREAT alternatives to horse urine (Premarin). I use them.....they are bio-identical hormones which BIG PHARMA is trying to outlaw......Premarin is a BAD drug....I don’t care how many women THINK it has helped them....
This verdict looks like another example of our lottery legal system. Even if the case had merit, the awards are outrageous. Forty million for future damages? How does anyone predict future damages? How could any of these plaintiffs be worth $40,000,000?
The bigger picture is the insanity of a jury trial for a complex scientific question. I could not judge the merits of this case even with a doctorate. I have no expertise in medicine, drugs, and breast cancer. We need a panel of scientists with background in these areas. Even then, I doubt any consensus would be reached.
Another aspect of the madness of our legal system is the lack of precedent. How many times does a company have to defend itself about the same issues? How can so many other cases be resolved in favor of the company when this case results in a huge verdict?
Good thing those bio-identical hormones aren’t chemicals./s
Is it the replacement hormones or is it the pharma drugs or is it ________ that causes an increased risk of breast cancers in some ladies?
Yeah....too bad the human body is one big petrie dish of “chemicals.” Premarin is HORSE URINE, and the way it is administered it gives the woman’s body a HUGE JOLT of chemicals (pill) that has to go through the stomach, liver, etc.....BIO-ID hormones (that I have scrips for) are lotions that seep through the skin over a longer period of time, and avoid harming the liver, AND they are not HORSE urine. I’d guess the problems with the increased breast cancers with Premarin has to do that it is HORSE URINE not best for a woman’s body, and that it is ingested in high doses, that give a spike in hormones. PLUS, I believe there are lifestyle issues involved in breast cancer, and think THIS suit is outlandish in the amount of $$$.
P.S....3 years ago I could barely move (walk, sit, sleep, etc.) and was “diagnosed” with Rheumatoid Arthritis......I didn’t believe it, and I was right....it was hormones.....No $10,000 a year meds for me....just bio-id hormones and a little thyroid med.....and now I’m back to power walking, cross country skiing, and generally bouncing around and doing anything I could in my 30’s.
That truly is wonderful. However, there is no way of knowing whether the supposed trigger for these women and breast cancer is the hormone replacement meds, bio-identical hormones, lifestyle, food, environmental factors, etc. (I should have made a more cogent point but I had to put the little ones to bed and ran out of time). The amount of $ is insane. I see people all the time who believe that taking “natural” supplements are safer... maybe true, but we just don’t know.
Full disclosure: I work in Oncology, and I haven’t recommended my own Mom go off of her hormone replacement meds; she had her Gynecologist lower the dose and supplement with some “natural” agents. Time will tell if this is the right thing, but she’s not much fun to be around without some hormone replacement...
Have you ever “recommended” your mother get ALL (well, a bunch) of her hormones tested? Progesterone, Testesterone, DHEA, Pregnenelone, and EstrogenS? Actually, I see a doc who measures the ratio of different estrogenS that correlates very directly to cancer/no cancer....I’ll go look for the info, if you’re interested.
see my post #10
see my post #10
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