› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
Hundreds of lawsuits alleging that Wyeth Pharmaceuticals’ hormone replacement therapies (HRT) caused breast cancer have been settled in recent months including one in Pennsylvania where a judge upheld a verdict against the drug company, including a $6 million punitive damages award.
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has lost its appeal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 14 consolidated cases alleging that its hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs had caused breast cancer. Trial lawyers say the decision, which makes the discovery rule an issue of fact for the jury, will likely affect the 15,000 HRT cases pending in lower court.
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.
“I am writing this letter only after a tremendous amount of contemplation and reflection,” writes Carl Whatley, Jr., Professional Territory Manager with Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories. “I have been struggling with and agonizing over this for months, and I feel I must bring it to your attention.”
For years, Mrs. Smith* chose not to take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat bothersome symptoms of menopause. During menopause, some women become “estrogen deficient” – their estrogen level drops so low that they experience symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness that can be so severe it interferes with a woman’s quality of life.
Mrs. Smith talked to her doctor, who recommended Prempro, a pill made by Wyeth that contains a mixture of estrogen and synthetic progestin hormones. The pills were also marketed to doctors and women as a miracle drug that tamed not only menopausal symptoms but also had the added benefit of protecting women against heart disease and osteoporosis. HRT became widely prescribed, and Wyeth racked in billions in profits.
“Not every woman requires (nor should every woman take) hormones,” writes Dr. K. Flood-Shaffer, associate professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, in MyHealthNewsDaily. “For the average woman in the perimenopausal or menopausal period, the reason to start a hormone regimen is very specific. Hormones are used to ease the symptoms of hot flushes (flashes), to control irregular bleeding or to treat vaginal dryness. There may be, in some women, an improvement in her overall sense of well being, improvement in sleep patterns or quality of sleep, or improvement in libido – but none of these are indications to start hormone therapy.”
Thousands of women who claim their hormone replacement therapy (HRT) caused them to develop breast cancer and other deadly diseases and conditions may finally have some resolution, now that Pfizer Inc. has announced it expects to shell out an additional $300 million to settle the last of more than 10,000 product liability lawsuits. The drug giant has already paid $472 million to settle with plaintiffs.
The advertisements no longer blanket magazines or fill television screens, but the message cannot be deleted. Over the years, millions of women were told that estrogen loss during menopause could be dangerous to their health, contributing to problems such as osteoporosis, heart disease, colon cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, tooth loss and blindness. It could also cause uncomfortable symptoms such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness and mood swings. The ads said menopause was a nasty disease that could be eliminated by just taking a once-daily pill, a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that would help women feel like women again.
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.
Use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) among postmenopausal women has been linked to a sharply increased risk of ovarian cancer, according to a study conducted by a team of researchers in Denmark. The study included data from 900,000 Danish women ages 50 to 79 over eight years and found 140 extra cases of ovarian cancer – or a 38 percent greater risk of contracting the disease compared to women who did not use HRT.
