Prempro Breast Cancer Punitive Damage Award of $27M Tossed on Appeal

A federal appeals court has backed a judge’s decision to vacate a $27 million punitive damages award issued in a 2008 Prempro lawsuit filed by a woman who developed breast cancer from the hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The appeals court has ordered that a new trial be conducted on whether the manufacturer is liable for punitive damages, but the first jury’s compensatory damages award of $2.7 million will stand.

The ruling, issued on Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis, involves a case brought by Donna Scroggin against Wyeth, which was acquired recently by Pfizer. The Prempro breast cancer lawsuit alleged that the drug maker ignored and downplayed the risk of side effects associated with menopause drugs.

In March 2008, a federal jury awarded Scroggin $2.7 million as compensation for her actual damages, including medical expenses and pain and suffering. After hearing evidence involving Wyeth’s actions during the punitive damages phase of the trial, the jury awarded an additional $27 million as punishment for the reckless disregard for the risk of injury to consumers.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the compensatory damages award and agreed that there was sufficient evidence presented at trial to warrant submitting the question of punitive damages to the jury. However, as a result of procedural problems with some of the evidence presented during the punitive damages phase, the appeals court ordered that the $27 million portion of the award must be tossed, and ordered a new trial on whether the drug maker should be required to pay punitive damages and the amount of any such award.

The decision comes just one week after a different jury awarded punitive damages in another breast cancer lawsuit over Prempro. A Philadelphia jury awarded Connie Barton, 64, $3.7 million in compensation for her breast cancer caused by Prempro, and ordered Wyeth to pay an undisclosed amount in punitive damages. Wyeth was successfully able to convince the court to keep the punitive damages amount sealed until another ongoing Prempro trial in the same courthouse is finished, to avoid influencing the jury.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) 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.

Scroggin and Barton both alleged that Wyeth failed to adequately warn about the risk of invasive breast cancer from hormone replacement therapies, and intentionally hid the cancer risk from women. There are about 9,000 lawsuits pending against Pfizer’s Wyeth unit by other women making similar claims.