Jury declares Wyeth's HRT drug caused woman's breast cancer, awards $1.5 million in damages

Email this article to a friend

Printable Version

Articles Related to This Article: • Mammograms cause breast cancer (and other cancer facts you probably never knew) • Green Tea and Breast Cancer Prevention: What the Experts Say • Sunlight emerging as proven treatment for breast cancer, prostate cancer and other cancers Sign the Health Revolution Petition Join the call for genuine health freedom in America. End FDA tyranny and Big Pharma corruption. Watch the video and sign the petition here.

(NaturalNews) A Philadelphia jury yesterday awarded an Ohio woman $1 million and her husband $500,000 for damages suffered after Wyeth's hormone replacement drug Prempro was found to be the cause of the woman's breast cancer.

Jennie Nelson, 67, of Dayton, Ohio, took Prempro for about six years, and believed it to be the cause of her breast cancer, for which she underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

The jury for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas deliberated for 33 hours over six days to reach its verdict in favor of Nelson. The second phase of the trial -- in which the jury must decide if Wyeth failed to warn of the dangers of Prempro -- begins October 12.

Wyeth is currently facing roughly 5,000 lawsuits over its hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs. The jury in the first Prempro trial -- which concluded last month in Little Rock, Ark. -- found in favor of Wyeth, and said the company had not been negligent and had adequately warned patients and doctors of the cancer risk associated with the HRT drug.

The Philadelphia jury in Nelson's case could award additional punitive damages if it finds Wyeth was negligent in its warnings. However, if it finds that the company sufficiently warned patients, no damages will be paid by the company, including the damages awarded yesterday.

Nelson's lawsuit -- which charges that Wyeth was negligent in its testing, manufacture and marketing of its HRT drugs -- will be watched closely by the lawyers of the 5,000 other plaintiffs, according to Seton Hall Law School professor Howard Erichson.

"Lawyers all around the country are watching what happens in these cases to get a sense of whether Prempro plaintiffs have a chance of winning," Erichson said. He added that Nelson's verdict "will be read by other plaintiffs' lawyers as meaning they have a shot at a significant recovery."

Wyeth maintains its innocence, and says that the Philadelphia jury's verdict cannot be used to predict the results of future lawsuits. "We disagree that there is any scientific basis to support the jury's finding of a causal link between hormone replacement therapy and the plaintiff's breast cancer," said Wyeth spokesman Chris Garland.

###

Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • Mammograms cause breast cancer (and other cancer facts you probably never knew) • Green Tea and Breast Cancer Prevention: What the Experts Say • Sunlight emerging as proven treatment for breast cancer, prostate cancer and other cancers	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/020652_breast_cancer_Wyeth_HRT.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/020652_breast_cancer_Wyeth_HRT.html">Jury declares Wyeth's HRT drug caused woman's breast cancer, awards $1.5 million in damages</a>