Another Trial Over Breast Cancer from Prempro Underway in Philadelphia

A new trial for a Prempro breast cancer lawsuit began this week in Philadelphia, where Pfizer has taken punishing losses in recent cases over their Wyeth unit’s hormone replacement therapy (HRT). 

The lawsuit is being heard in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas before Judge James Murray Lynn, where opening arguments began on Tuesday. The complaint was filed by two women, Sharon Buxley, 66, and Joy Henry, 75, who claim that the side effects of Prempro caused them to develop breast cancer. The trial is expected to last about four to eight weeks.

Other juries in that court have ruled in favor of the plaintiff in four out of the last five Prempro trials, hitting Pfizer with compensatory and punitive damages of more than $100 million in two cases alone.

Prempro is an 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. 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 hormone replacement therapy breast cancer lawsuits currently pending throughout the country.

There are about 9,000 Prempro lawsuits pending against Pfizer’s Wyeth unit by women who claim that they developed breast cancer from the hormone replacement therapy. The cases allege that the drug maker intentionally hid the risk of breast cancer from women. As a result of Wyeth’s conduct, punitive damages have been awarded in several cases where juries saw the drug maker’s behavior as reckless disregard for the risk of injury to consumers.