Connie Barton, an Illinois woman who developed breast cancer after taking Prempro for menopausal symptoms, was awarded punitive damages by a jury in Philadelphia yesterday. The jury has already awarded her $3.7 million in compensatory damages, back in September, but we will not learn the amount of punitive damages until another Philadelphia jury reaches their verdict in similar case against the Pfizer, the drug’s manufacturer. (Technically, the case was filed against Wyeth, but the two companies just completed a merger deal last week, and Wyeth is now a subsidiary of Pfizer.)
Wyeth’s attorneys successfully argued that public revelation of the amount of damages might influence the jurors in Kendall v. Wyeth. However, the jury’s finding that Wyeth ignored evidence that the drug could cause cancer is now public information. Would I sound bitter if I said I hope that news influences potential jurors?
According to the news story about Barton’s case at philly.com, Pfizer has now lost five of eight trials over its hormone-replacement drugs since cases began reaching juries in 2006. 1500 more trials against Wyeth are pending at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. But a longer story in Philadelphia Magazine reports 23 out of 31 cases set for trial have been resolved favorably for Wyeth; the company has settled five, and several are on appeal.
Christine Speer also writes,
The future of Prempro . . . seems pretty stable, no matter what the juries decide. Doctors in some 85 countries continue to prescribe it for hot flashes.
[. . . .]
The Philadelphia judge who basically invented mass tort pharmaceutical litigation — Sandra Mazer Moss — has made it her court’s mission to get through this docket and hear all 1,500 Philly-based trials. There might even be cases tried in groups. “The plaintiffs are due their day in court,” Moss says. “And so are the defendants. That is justice. Even one-tenth of a courtroom in your lifetime is better than nothing because you’re dead.”
If you were on the jury, you’d likely hear that Moss — who came to this court’s bench in January — arrived too late for the 205 women who died still waiting for their cases to come to trial. If you were on the jury, you’d hear that WHI’s lead researcher thinks 200,000 women who got breast cancer in the past decade have long-term hormone therapy to thank for it. If you were on the jury, you’d hear that Wyeth did everything a responsible drug company can possibly do in getting out a drug whose benefits still outweigh its risks.
Of course, if you’re not on the jury, you might never hear any of that. You might just be a patient.
