Three Nevada women that had brought suit against pharmaceutical maker Wyeth have been awarded $134.5 million.
In the largest award against Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) to date, the jury deliberated for two days before announcing in favor of the three plaintiffs. Wyeth is facing more than 5,000 similar lawsuits across the U.S. in federal and state courts.
The women had contended that they developed breast cancer after having taken Premarin, an estrogen replacement, and Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin, to offset menopausal symptoms.
Wyeth reached an undisclosed settlement, last October, with a fourth women who was a part of the lawsuit. The woman, Carol McCreary, was found to have breast cancer after having taken Prempro for about 33 months. She died in April six years after her diagnosis.
According to Drug Topics list of the top 200 brand name drug according to retail dollar in 2006, Premarin was 64th with over $576 million in retail sales and prempro was 196th with almost $139 million in retail sales.
[Source: New York Times]
Comment Preview