Wyeth's Prempro Caused Cancer, Jury Finds; Awards $134 Million in Damages

A Nevada jury has awarded $134.5 million in compensatory damages to three women who say their breast cancer was caused by Prempro and Premarin, hormone-replacement treatments manufactered by Wyeth. Punitive damages have yet to be determined. The jury found Wyeth negligent and guilty of malice and fraud. The award, which is to be divided roughly equally among the three plaintiffs, is far greater than any granted in similar suits against the company. The suit is one of about 5,300 hormone-replacement cases filed against Wyeth on behalf of 7,900 plaintiffs, and the seventh to be concluded since trials began last year. Of the other six, two verdicts favoring plaintiffs were thrown out and a third was overturned in Wyeth's favor. No plaintiff had been awarded damages exceeding $3 million. In 2002, an NIH-sponsored study suggested that Wyeth's hormone-replacement therapies increased women's chance of breast cancer by 24%. Wyeth did not withdraw the drugs, instead adding a warning to labels and information sheets. The drugs generated $1 billion in revenue in 2006. Deutsche Bank drug analyst Barbara Ryan said the Prempro cases are harder to prove than the "fen-phen" diet-drug cases previously brought against Wyeth. Still, as Seton Hall law professor Howard Erichson pointed out, "With thousands of cases remaining to be tried, it's a scary thing to know that juries don't like your argument." Shares were down 0.8% to $45.78 in Thursday trading.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, AP
Commentary: Wyeth's PI Motion Against Teva in Protonix Litigation Denied • Is the Pzifer-Wyeth Merger Speculation for Real?
Stocks to watch: WYE. Competitors: LLY, NVS, PFE. ETFs: PPH, IHE, PJP
Earnings call transcript: Wyeth Q2 2007

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