Prempro Lawsuit Results in Defense Verdict

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Audrey Rounds

A federal jury in Virginia has handed Pfizer a defense verdict in a Prempro breast cancer lawsuit, saying that the plaintiff was properly informed about the potential side effects Prempro, a hormone replacement therapy (HRT). 

The lawsuit was filed by Georgia Torkie-Tork, 65, in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Following trial, jurors determined that she did not establish that Wyeth failed to adequately warn about the risk of breast cancer, and returned a verdict in favor of the drug maker.

The decision is the fourth jury victory in a row for Pfizer in a Prempro suit over breast cancer. However, the drug maker has suffered several major losses at trial, which have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in compensatory damages and punitive damages after other juries determined that their Wyeth subsidiary attempted to downplay the risks associated with the medication.

Prempro is a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that contains a combination of the drugs Provera and Premarin. The drug was originally developed by Wyeth, which was acquired by Pfizer last year.

In 2002 the National Institutes of Health released the results of studies that found women receiving HRT were at higher risk of breast cancer, strokes and heart attacks. The studies, part of the Women’s Health Initiative, sparked most of the Prempro hormone replacement therapy lawsuits currently pending throughout the country.

There are about 9,000 lawsuits over Prempro suits pending against Pfizer’s Wyeth unit. All of the lawsuits claim that the drug caused plaintiffs to develop breast cancer, and that Wyeth failed to warn patients and doctors of the potential side effects of the hormone therapy.

Tags: , , , ,

Follow-up study discovers use of hormone replacement drugs leads to more advanced and fatal cancers.

Posted on October 26, 2010 by James Kenna

Hormone treatment after menopause was originally studied by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) as part of a clinical trial established in 1992 to assess its relationship to coronary heart disease. Those studies were halted in 2002 when the results indicated that women taking a combination of estrogen and progestin had a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, and invasive breast cancer when compared to women taking a placebo. Now, a new study published October 20, 2010 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that these breast cancers associated with hormone treatment are more aggressive, more advanced, and have a higher mortality rate. 

The WHI continued to follow the women with breast cancer after the main trial had ended. Some earlier observational studies had suggested that hormone therapy induced breast cancers were less advanced and had a lower risk of death. However, this new WHI finding strongly contradicts those suggestions.   Combined hormone therapy increased the incidence of invasive breast cancer and in many cases the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes making it a more deadly form of cancer. Most significantly, it was found that the use of hormone therapy made the detection of breast cancer more difficult resulting in the cancer being diagnosed at a more advanced stage. 

For many years, menopausal women were treated with a combination of drugs to treat hot flashes and mood swings. Premarin, manufactured by Wyeth, contained estrogen, while Provera, manufactured by Pfizer’s Pharmacia and Upjohn, contained progestin.  In 1995, Wyeth combined the two hormones to form the medication, PremPro. Following the initial findings of the WHI in 2002 that linked estrogen and progestin to increased incidences of breast cancer, sales decreased dramatically. Sales of Premarin and PremPro were approximately $213 million in 2009, down from almost $2 billion prior to 2002. 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Recent Verdicts Against Wyeth Underscore Momentum in Favor of Plaintiffs Who Claim to Have Developed Breast Cancer as the Result of Hormone Therapy

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Breanna Wilson

KPA Moves Forward in Complex Litigation on Behalf of Women with Breast Cancer Linked to Premarin and Prempro

Two multi-million dollar verdicts in Philadelphia last week against pharmaceutical company Wyeth, a division of Pfizer, reinforce that juries are consistently finding the company responsible for breast cancer in women who took its Premarin and Prempro hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs.

And just last month, a ruling from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed that Wyeth did wrong, and that juries should be permitted to hear this evidence and determine whether the company should be punished.

In the verdicts announced last week, juries awarded Donna Kendall of Decatur, Illinois $6.3 million in compensatory and $28 million in punitive damages, and Connie Barton of Peoria, Illinois $3.7 million in compensatory and $75 million in punitive damages.

Through an ongoing federal multi-district litigation mass tort action, Wyeth still faces lawsuits from more than 10,000 women nationwide who claim that the company’s drugs caused their breast cancer. Of the 12 verdicts announced to date, plaintiffs have been awarded money in 10 of the cases. Every jury that has been permitted to deliberate on punitive damages has returned substantial awards.

To date, winning plaintiffs have been awarded a total of more than $42 million in compensatory and $165 million in punitive damages. In addition, 13 women have settled their HRT claims with Wyeth or Pfizer outside of court.

Shawn Khorrami, founding partner of KPA, is a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for the MDL litigation team, and his firm represents around 150 individuals pursuing cases against Wyeth.

A press release on the firm’s involvement with the litigation was released today. For more information on the Barton and Kendall verdicts watch the video below.
 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

David and Goliath

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Deborah Khantamour

The world’s largest drugmaker, Pfizer, indicated it would challenge the latest verdict and an earlier verdict that went against Wyeth. A Philidelphia court recently ordered Pfizer to pay $28 million in punitive damages to a woman who is a breast cancer survivor. She was a consumer of Pfizer’s hormone replacement drugs for 11 years.

The drug giant inherited numerous personal injury lawsuits involving the drugs Premarin and Prempro. These drugs are prescribed by doctors to alleviate the effects of menopause. Pfizer recently acquired Wyeth. Provera is also sold by Pharmacia & Upjohn, the latter acquired by Pfizer in 2003.

There was a $4 million compensatory damages award and $75 million in punitive damages. This came after $6.3 million award that Pfizer was ordered to pay in compensatory damages when the jury concluded that the drugmaker failed to warn the consumer about the risks of the durgs Premarin, Prempro and Provera, which contributed to the plaintiff’s cancer.

A jury concluded that Pfizer’s actions warranted punitive damages because its actions constituted a reckless disregard for plaintiff’s safety, health and welfare. Pfizer, of course, intends to appeal, if post trial motions are unsuccessful. The company believes that neither liability nor punitive damages were supported by the evidence presented at trial. Both Wyeth and Pharmacia & Upjohn argued at trial that the drugs were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and known risks were included on the labels.
 

Tags: , , ,