› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Pfizer over its hormone replacement therapy (HRT) Prempro, which means the pharmaceutical company will have to pay three Nevada women nearly $58 million. Pfizer claimed that plaintiffs attorneys biased the jury during closing arguments, which led to the jury awarding $134.1 to the three women. That award was later reduced to $57.6 million.
The message was heard loud and clear – powerful drug companies that make billions from products they know pose a significant risk of life-threatening health consequences to the people who take them, owe their victims. Big time.
This week, Pfizer, which recently acquired Wyeth, the makers of the hormone replacement therapies (HRT) Prempro and Premarin, were hit with more than $100 million in two punitive-damage awards from Philadelphia juries. The two plaintiffs, Connie Barton and Donna Kendall, claimed the drugs caused their breast cancer.
U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson Jr. has ordered scientific data collected by the Cancer Research Center since August 2005 as a follow up to a study on the effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on postmenopausal women should be released to Wyeth Pharmaceuticals as it defends itself against numerous lawsuits over the safety of its HRT meds.
