Ruling Reinstates 14 HRT Breast Cancer Lawsuits, Could Affect 1,000 More

A Pennsylvania appeals court has reinstated more than a dozen breast cancer lawsuits over hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs by Pfizer’s Wyeth and Pharmacia.  

The August 30 ruling by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania directly affects 14 cases that were dismissed by a lower court due to the statute of limitations. However, according to a report by Law.com, the opinion could lead to the reinstatement of 1,000 Pennsylvania HRT lawsuits that were dismissed for similar reasons.

The ruling mirrors a similar decision made by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis at the beginning of the year. That ruling reinstated more than 100 federal lawsuits against Wyeth’s Prempro and Premarin, as well as Pharmacia’s Provera. The cases, at both the federal and state levels, were initially dismissed because the lower courts believed the claims were filed too late according to the deadline for the applicable statute of limitations.

In the Pennsylvania case, the drug makers argued that because the plaintiffs waited more than two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer to file their claims, they missed the window of opportunity to sue. However, the plaintiffs argued that the statute of limitations did not start running when they were diagnosed, as they were unaware of the possibility that HRT drugs could have caused their breast cancer until a 2002 study by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) linked the medications to cancer.

Hormone replacement therapy involves the use of 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 hormone replacement therapy breast cancer lawsuits currently pending throughout the country.

The main case in the Pennsylvania ruling was filed by Elizabeth Coleman who was diagnosed with breast cancer on October 20, 2000, after taking Premarin for several years, but did not file a lawsuit against Wyeth until June 28, 2004. At issue was whether the trigger date for the statute of limitations was when Coleman, and other plaintiffs, discovered they had breast cancer, or when the WHI study first claimed an HRT breast cancer link in July 2002. Both the federal appeals court, and now the Pennsylvania Superior Court, have determined that the study is the start date for determining the statute of limitations.

About 9,000 Prempro lawsuits have been filed against Pfizer’s Wyeth unit by women who claim that they developed breast cancer from the hormone replacement therapy. Wyeth has lost five of the last seven HRT lawsuits that have gone to trial, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages. The punitive damages have been awarded by juries who saw Wyeth’s behavior as reckless disregard for the risk of injury to consumers.