Prempro HRT Lawsuit Award of $10.1M Upheld on Appeal

A Pennsylvania appeals court has upheld a jury award of more than $10 million in a Prempro breast cancer lawsuit, reversing a lower court’s ruling that overturned the award of compensatory and punitive damages in the case.

The hormone replacement therapy (HRT) lawsuit was originally won in 2007 by Mary Daniel, who claimed that Prempro treatments caused her to develop breast cancer. That ruling was overturned by the trial judge, who threw out the award and ordered a new trial due to the testimony of one of the expert witnesses offered by the plaintiffs.

Daniel appealed the decision and on Monday the Superior Court of Pennslyvania agreed with her, reinstating the original verdict and determining that a new trial was not necessary. The appellate ruling has resulted in Pfizer, Inc. being ordered to pay a $1.5 million compensatory award and an additional $8.6 million in punitive damages.  

Did You Know?

Ticketmaster Data Breach Impacts Millions of Customers

A massive Ticketmaster data breach exposed the names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers and other personal information of more than 560 million customers, which have now been released on the dark web. Lawsuits are being pursued to obtain financial compensation.

Learn More

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 in 2009.

HRTs use hormones and progestins to artificially boost hormone levels in women undergoing menopause due to surgery or in postmenopausal women, to provide relief from symptoms such as hot flashes, irregular menstruation or weight gain.

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 HRT lawsuits currently pending throughout the country.

There are now about 9,000 lawsuits over breast cancer from Prempro pending against Pfizer’s Wyeth unit by women who claim that they developed breast cancer from the medication. 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.

Pfizer has lost a number of Prempro lawsuits that reached the appeals level in recent months. In late November the Nevada Supreme Court upheld a $58 million Prempro verdict, with the court declaring that it was clear that Pfizer’s Wyeth unit knew about the links between HRT and breast cancer and tried to suppress that information.

In October, a U.S. Supreme Court decision cleared the way for 100 HRT lawsuits in Minnesota to move forward, and another appellate ruling in Pennsylvania in late summer reinstated 14 breast cancer lawsuits against Pfizer and Pharmacia that had been thrown out.

According to a report by Bloomberg News, Pfizer officials say they are weighing their legal options in regard to this latest decision.

1 Comments

  • delomaFebruary 20, 2011 at 4:02 am

    I GOT BREAST CANCER FROM HARMONE THERAPY . IS IT TO LATE TO GET INTO THE LAWSUITE? BY THE TIME IT WAS DETECTED I HADE STAGE 3B.

Share Your Comments

I authorize the above comments be posted on this page*

Want your comments reviewed by a lawyer?

To have an attorney review your comments and contact you about a potential case, provide your contact information below. This will not be published.

NOTE: Providing information for review by an attorney does not form an attorney-client relationship.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

More Top Stories

Zimmer Biomet CPT Hip System Linked to Increased Risk of Thigh Bone Fractures, FDA Warns
Zimmer Biomet CPT Hip System Linked to Increased Risk of Thigh Bone Fractures, FDA Warns (Posted today)

The FDA has issued a safety communication warning that Zimmer Biomet CPT hip system femoral stems may increase the risk of femur fractures, calling for doctors to avoid its use when possible.

Change Healthcare Data Breach Lawyers Meeting Today With MDL Judge For Initial Status Conference
Change Healthcare Data Breach Lawyers Meeting Today With MDL Judge For Initial Status Conference (Posted yesterday)

The judge presiding over all Change Healthcare lawsuits filed in federal court is holding the first status conference of the litigation, which is expected to grow significantly as Change Healthcare data breach letters continue to be sent to impacted customers.

Angiodynamics LifePort Lawsuit Filed Over Risk of the Port Catheters Failing, Causing Severe Injury
Angiodynamics LifePort Lawsuit Filed Over Risk of the Port Catheters Failing, Causing Severe Injury (Posted 2 days ago)

Complaint comes as a panel of federal judges are scheduled to hear oral arguments later this month, to determine whether all AngioDynamics port catheter lawsuits filed in U.S. District Courts nationwide should be centralized before one judge.