Millions awarded in menopause drug case
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
By: Taunya English
tenglish@whyy.org
A Montgomery County attorney helped win more than $34 million for an Illinois woman who says her illness was caused by the menopause drug, Prempro. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the maker of the hormone therapy.
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Attorney Tobi Millrood says his client Donna Kendall used Prempro for 11 years. A Philadelphia jury said that Prempro caused Kendall's breast cancer and awarded her $6.3 million for pain, suffering and expenses. Millrood says his client is still dealing with the aftermath of her cancer treatment. Drug giant Pfizer was ordered to pay Kendall another $28 million in punitive damages. A separate jury awarded $75 million to a woman in a previous case.
Millrood: Both juries decided that the actions of the drug companies involved were reckless, and therefore they should be punished with punitive damages, intended to punish the company and deter them from future reckless conduct.
An attorney for Pfizer says the drug maker will challenge the jury decisions. She added that there is solid science that describes both the benefits and risks associated with Prempro.
Twelve more hormone therapy cases are set for trial in Philadelphia. The cases are being handled here because Pfizer's Wyeth division is based in Montgomery County.
Thousands of women have sued, saying the company didn't disclose adequately the risks of the medication. Heidi Hubbard has defended the drug maker in the lawsuits. She is challenging the latest verdicts and will continue to fight future suits.
Hubbard: We are looking forward to doing what I love to do, which is having the opportunity to really tell judges and juries this is what you need to know that is accurate and science-based about these medicines.
The company has had some judgments in its favor regarding hormone therapy. Hubbard says Wyeth consistently provided accurate safety information.
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Synthetic Hormones, Pfizer-Wyeth Lose Big Court Case
A 112 million dollar punitive award indicates outrage at the "wanton and reckless” conduct by Wyeth for pushing a cancer causing pill. This is the tip of the iceberg, as another ten thousand cases are waiting for their day in court.
Seven years ago, the 2002 WHI study revealed that PremPro causes breast cancer, and millions of women shifted away from synthetic Prempro. The result of this flight from Prempro was a dramatic decline in breast cancer rates, and a shift to the safety and efficay of bioidentical hormones..
For More:
http://jeffreydach.com/2009/11/27/synthetic-hormones-pfizerwyeth-lose-big-court-case-by-jeffrey-dach-md.aspx