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Wyeth Loses $3 Million Verdict Over Menopause Drug By Phil Milford and Jef Feeley Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Wyeth was ordered to pay $3 million in damages after a jury found the company's menopause treatment Prempro helped cause an Ohio woman's breast cancer, the biggest loss in five trials involving the drug. The state court jury deliberated more than two days before also finding today that Wyeth ``failed to provide an adequate warning' to plaintiff Jennie Nelson about the links between Prempro and breast cancer. Nelson won a jury verdict in October that later was thrown out. The verdict is Madison, New Jersey-based Wyeth's third loss in five trials. The award included $2.4 million in compensatory damages for Nelson, 67, and $600,000 for her husband, Lawrence Nelson, 79. The judge in the case had ruled out punitive damages. ``We respectfully disagree that there is any scientific basis to support this finding,' Wyeth spokesman Christopher Garland said. Wyeth may appeal today's verdict, said Barbara Binis, a Philadelphia-based lawyer for the company. ``It's just one verdict,' said Barbara Ryan, an analyst with Deutsche Bank in Greenwich, Connecticut. ``It's surprising, just because of the issue of cause and effect. You can prove the patient took the drug, and you can document breast cancer, but you can't demonstrate that the one caused the other.' Nelson's lawsuit was one of about 5,000 against Wyeth over its hormone-replacement drugs, including Prempro and Premarin. Nelson was among 6 million women who took the pills to treat menopause symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings before a 2002 study curbed sales. `Important Victory' The 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 in Prempro had a 24 percent higher risk of getting invasive breast cancer. ``This is an important victory for women in America,' said Ken Suggs, a Columbia, South Carolina-based lawyer who represented the Nelsons in both trials. Wyeth shares fell 26 cents to $50.45 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have risen 4.2 percent in the past 12 months, valuing the company at $67.9 billion. Credit-default swaps on Wyeth's debts today rose the most since Jan. 22, indicating a decline in the perception of the company's credit quality. The price based on $10 million of Wyeth's bonds climbed 4.7 percent to $8,375, according to data compiled by Credit Market Analysis in London. Credit default swaps are financial instruments based on bonds and loans that are used to speculate on a company's ability to repay debt. When prices rise, it means buyers perceive more risk in owning the debt. `Courageous People' Nelson began using Prempro in 1995 and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. In October, a Philadelphia jury awarded Nelson and her husband $1.5 million in damages over her Prempro claims. The judge in the case declared a mistrial, erasing the award, after Wyeth accused a juror of misconduct. ``These are very courageous people, to have gone through this twice,' said Tobias Millrood, their lawyer from Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Millrood said 1,800 more cases are pending in Philadelphia. A federal jury in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Feb. 15 rejected an Arkansas woman's claims that Prempro caused her breast cancer. Wyeth won the first hormone-replacement case to come to trial in that same court in August. Another Philadelphia jury awarded an Arkansas woman and her husband $1.5 million in damages over her Prempro claims in January. A judge in that case also refused to allow jurors to award punitive damages. FDA Approval Suggs told the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury that Wyeth misled women about Prempro's cancer risk by putting fuzzy warnings on the drug's label. Wyeth's lawyers denied the company engaged in any wrongdoing and blamed Nelson's cancer on other factors, including her family history. They told jurors the cancer warnings included on the drug's label were sanctioned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. ``The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Prempro and it's still on the market,' Binis said after the verdict was announced. Wyeth officials said in January that sales of its hormone- replacement drugs climbed to more than $1 billion in 2006. Sales had topped $2 billion, making them Wyeth's best-selling products, before the Women's Health Initiative study. The case is Nelson v. Wyeth, 040602368, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas (Philadelphia).
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