› $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.
There is plenty of bad press about hormone replacement therapy (HRT), a striking reversal of just a decade or two ago, when drug makers were touting the many benefits of HRT for menopausal women. Those drug makers spent millions of dollars developing advertising campaigns and paying doctors to write articles in medical journals claiming the pills that combined estrogen and progestin were the fountain of youth. They put an end to nasty menopause symptoms such as mood swings and hot flashes, and offered the added benefit of strengthening bones and protecting women against cancer and heart disease.
Drug companies’ advertisements touting the benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) sold Delores Ann Spann Whatley of Tyler, Texas on the idea that her mood swings and hot flashes could be wiped away with just a daily pill. The estrogen-and-progestin cocktail was touted as a miracle drug, able to squash menopause symptoms while warding against osteoporosis, heart disease and cancer. But the pharmaceutical companies soon realized that the HRT that was making them rich was actually making consumers sick. But instead of notifying the public and pulling their product, the drug companies attempted to cover up the mounting statistics and continued to advertise to women about the benefits of HRT.
Women who took Wyeth’s hormone replacement therapy (HRT) Prempro at least five years are at greater risk of dying from non-small cell lung cancer, according to a recent study presented at an American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.
The more than 2 million baby-boomer women who are approaching menopause may find themselves in a precarious position when it comes to handling hot flashes and mood swings. Should they risk the threat of breast cancer from use of hormone replacement therapy, or simply suffer through the agonizing symptoms? According to Forbes, new and detailed research offers women the opportunity to make a more educated decision.
October is breast cancer awareness month, which makes it a perfect time for women currently taking or considering taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT), to assess their breast health.
According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide among women. It is the fifth most deadly cancer, killing about 502,000 people per year. All of us know a family who has had to deal with this most serious problem.
Wyeth must pay $134.1 million, including $99 million in punitive damages, over its mishandling of menopause drugs that helped cause three Nevada women’s cancers, a jury ruled.
Pharmaceutical giant Wyeth, ordered by a Washoe County jury to pay millions to three Northern Nevada women who claimed the company’s hormone replacement drugs caused their breast cancer, also is fighting more than 5,000 legal battles, a spokesman said Thursday.
