http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070129/ap_on_he_me/hormone_lawsuit_1

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 29, 6:36 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA - A couple who contended that a hormone-replacement drug caused the woman's breast cancer was awarded $1.5 million Monday in a jury verdict against drug maker Wyeth.

The jury also found that Wyeth acted with malice or reckless disregard, prompting a hearing set to start Tuesday on possible punitive damages.

The Philadelphia jury awarded $1 million in compensatory damages to plaintiff Mary Daniel and $500,000 to her husband, Tom, a courtroom clerk said.

Mary Daniel, 60, of Hot Springs, Ark., developed breast cancer after taking the Wyeth drug Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin, every other day for about 16 months to relieve hot flashes.

Daniel had two surgeries and underwent chemotherapy and radiation following her July 2001 diagnosis. She has since been cancer-free.

Her lawyer said Wyeth knew of research indicating a link between Prempro and cancer, but put profits ahead of patients.

"Wyeth has known for decades that postmenopausal drugs cause breast cancer but the company deliberately failed to do studies to understand or quantify that risk," lawyer Zoe Littlepage said. "Wyeth protected their bottom dollar instead of protecting the patients."

At its height, Wyeth sold $2 billion a year in drugs that treat menopausal symptoms, including Premarin and Prempro. But many women stopped taking them after the federal Women's Health Initiative study in July 2002 found higher rates of breast cancer and heart problems in women who took estrogen-progestin pills.

Wyeth spokesman Christopher Garland declined comment after Monday's verdict, citing a request by the trial judge.

In closing arguments, Wyeth denied any malice and noted that doctors still prescribe Prempro for some women. Lawyer Peter Grossi suggested that Daniel's breast cancer was caused by other risk factors, including the density of her breasts and a family history of cancer.

The jury deliberated for about two days following a three-week trial.

Daniel's lawsuit is the third of about 4,500 against Wyeth to reach a jury.

Wyeth won its first trial in Arkansas in August, and a mistrial was declared in the second trial in Philadelphia in October.

Other suits are pending in the courts

Wyeth has now won two and lost two lawsuits over their hormone therapy drugs derived from pregnant mares' urine (PMU).

On February 20, a jury ordered Wyeth to pay $3 million in one of the cases. Read and comment on the Philadelphia Inquirer article below.

Jury orders Wyeth to pay $3 million
An Ohio woman, who had been taking Prempro, developed breast cancer.
By Thomas Ginsberg
Inquirer Staff Writer

A Philadelphia jury blasted the drugmaker Wyeth yesterday for failing to warn a patient about breast-cancer risks of its hormone drug Prempro and awarded the Ohio woman and her husband $3 million in damages.

It was the second - and biggest - loss in litigation over Prempro. Wyeth has headquarters in Madison, N.J., with pharmaceutical operations in Collegeville. It has won two Prempro cases, has settled at least one, and has three more trials scheduled for this year.

Wyeth indicated it would appeal yesterday's verdict.

"We respectfully disagree that there is any scientific basis to support the jury's finding of a causal link between Wyeth's hormone therapies and the plaintiff's breast cancer," Barbara R. Binis, a Wyeth defense attorney from the Philadelphia office of Reed Smith L.L.P., said in a statement.

The company has said it faces about 5,000 cases over its hormone-replacement drugs, including Prempro and Premarin.

But plaintiffs' attorneys say cases involving at least 10,000 people have been filed nationwide in federal and state courts, including roughly 1,800 people in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas. Almost all involve breast cancer.

In the annals of pharmaceutical liability, Wyeth already stands out for its $21 billion cost in settling lawsuits over the diet-drug combination known as fen-phen.

"There will come a time when Wyeth will realize it makes good business sense to settle on Prempro, too," said Tobias Millrood, of the law firm Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler, cocounsel for Jennie Nelson, the latest Prempro plaintiff. "Verdicts like this will help."

On Wall Street, the verdict evidently helped push down Wyeth shares by 26 cents, to $50.45.

The verdict included $2.4 million in compensatory damages for Nelson, 67, and $600,000 for her husband, Lawrence Nelson, 79. The judge in the case had earlier ruled out punitive damages.

The state court jury deliberated more than two days before finding that Wyeth "failed to provide an adequate warning" to Nelson about the links between Prempro and breast cancer. It was a retrial of Nelson's case, first tried in October.

Nelson began using Prempro in 1995 and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. Her attorney, Ken Suggs, told the Philadelphia jury that Wyeth misled women about Prempro's cancer risk by putting "fuzzy" warnings on the drug's label.

In 2002, a study by the Women's Health Initiative, sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, concluded that women who received a combination of estrogen and progestin in Prempro had a 24 percent higher risk of getting invasive breast cancer.

Wyeth's attorneys, however, blamed Nelson's cancer on other factors, including her family history. They told jurors the cancer warnings included on the drug's label were sanctioned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Prempro, and it's still on the market," Binis said after yesterday's verdict was announced.

Sales of Wyeth's hormone-replacement drugs, Prempro and Premarin, were $937 million in 2006. Sales had exceeded $2 billion a year before the Women's Health Initiative study.