Bloomberg News
Wyeth's Prempro Caused Woman's Cancer, Jury Says
By Jef Feeley
Wyeth's Prempro menopause treatment drug.
Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Wyeth's Prempro menopause pill helped cause an Arkansas woman's breast cancer and she deserves at least $1.5 million in damages, jurors ruled in the company's second trial loss over its hormone-replacement drugs.
A state court jury in Philadelphia deliberated about nine hours over two days before finding today that Wyeth's conduct was ``malicious, wanton, willful or oppressive,'' allowing plaintiff Mary Daniel to seek punitive damages. Jurors will return tomorrow to consider awarding further damages.
The lawsuit is one of about 5,000 against Madison, New Jersey-based Wyeth over its hormone-replacement drugs, including Prempro and Premarin. Daniel was among as many as 6 million women who took the pills to treat menopause symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings before a 2002 study highlighted links to cancer. Daniel, 60, took Prempro for about 16 months starting in December 1999 and was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2001.
The jurors found that Prempro was a ``factual cause'' of Daniel's cancer, siding with her lawyer, Zoe Littlepage. The panel also agreed that Wyeth failed to provide proper warnings about Prempro's cancer risk, leading Daniel's doctor to prescribe the drug for her.
``Wyeth has known for decades that postmenopausal drugs cause breast cancer but the company deliberately failed to do studies to understand or quantify that risk,'' Littlepage said in a statement following the verdict. ``Wyeth protected their bottom dollar instead of protecting the patients.''
$1.5 Million Award
The jury awarded compensatory damages of $1 million to Daniel and $500,000 to her husband, Tom. Wyeth lawyer Peter Grossi said the company will ask Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Myrna Field to throw out the award. Seven of eight jurors agreed to the verdict, as required by Pennsylvania law.
Daniel's lawyers noted during the trial that Wyeth's hormone-replacement drugs generated sales of as much as $2 billion a year, a figure that Field may allow jurors to use when deciding on any punitive award.
``We're pleased with the verdict,'' Littlepage said outside the courtroom. She wouldn't elaborate, saying Field had asked lawyers for both sides not to comment while the punitive-damages issue was pending. Wyeth spokesman Chris Garland declined to comment on the verdict, citing the judge's request.
Wyeth shares fell 35 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $50.60 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They fell as much as 1 percent after the verdict was announced. The shares have risen 7 percent in the past year, valuing the company at about $68 billion.
Rising Risk
The perceived risk of owning Wyeth's bonds rose, according to traders who bet on the creditworthiness of companies in the credit-default swap market. Following the verdict, the cost of credit-default swaps based on $10 million worth of Wyeth's bonds rose almost 3 percent to $9,250 from $9,000 on Jan. 26, according to CMA Datavision in London.
Credit-default swaps are used to speculate on a company's ability to repay debt. They pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities should the company default.
Wyeth won its first federal-court trial over the hormone- replacement drugs in August. In October, a Philadelphia judge declared a mistrial in another case and tossed out a $1.5 million award to a woman who said the drugs caused her cancer. A retrial of that case, which led to the first Prempro verdict against Wyeth, began Jan. 11.
2002 Study
The 2002 Women's Health Initiative study, sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, concluded that women who received a combination of estrogen and progestin, as found in Prempro, had a 24 percent higher risk of invasive breast cancer.
Wyeth reported $789 million in sales of its hormone- replacement drugs in the first nine months of 2006. Before the Women's Health Initiative study, the drugs generated more than $2 billion a year, making them Wyeth's top-selling products.
Field will decide tomorrow what evidence jurors can hear before beginning deliberations on punitive damages. Punitive damages are designed to punish companies for wrongdoing and to deter other companies from engaging in similar conduct.
Wyeth's sales figures may be part of the jury's consideration. Daniel's lawyers also may be able to cite information about the company's net worth.
Protecting Sales
Daniel's lawyers told jurors during closing arguments that Wyeth officials hid Prempro's health risks to protect sales of the drug. Grossi and other Wyeth lawyers countered that the drugmaker had properly disclosed the drug's risks on its label and argued that Daniel's cancer was caused by factors other than her Prempro use.
Wyeth introduced Premarin, an estrogen-only pill, in 1942, Littlepage said during the trial. Sales jumped in 1966 after publication of a book about menopause, then fell 10 years later on reports linking estrogen to cancer of the uterus.
Premarin sales began to rebound when Wyeth introduced a combination that included progestin to counteract the possible negative effects of estrogen, Littlepage said. The company introduced Prempro, which contains both hormones, in 1995.
The case is Daniel v. Wyeth, 040602368, Court of Common Pleas (Philadelphia).
To contact the reporter on this story: Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware, at jfeeley@bloomberg.net .