Supreme Court Denies Wyeth's Request For New Trial In Hormone Replacement Therapy Case

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Also Included In: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry;  Breast Cancer;  Menopause
Article Date: 23 Jun 2010 - 3:00 PDT

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The Supreme Court on Monday denied Wyeth Pharmaceuticals' request for a completely new trial of a lawsuit that claimed the drugmaker's hormone replacement therapy drugs led to the plaintiff's breast cancer, the Wall Street Journal reports. The court let stand a lower court's 2009 ruling that said Wyeth is entitled to a partial retrial to assess punitive damages awarded to plaintiff Donna Scroggin (Kendall, Wall Street Journal, 6/22).

The HRT drugs in question -- Premarin and Prempro -- brought in billions of dollars for Pfizer before the federal Women's Health Initiative in 2002 linked Prempro to elevated rates of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer. Doctors now advise women to take HRT for the shortest time period necessary (AP/MSNBC, 6/21). Both drugs also include a so-called "black box" warning advising of the risk of breast cancer (Wall Street Journal, 6/22).

History of Case

In the original trial, an Arkansas jury determined that Wyeth inadequately warned Scroggin that two of its drugs for treating menopause symptoms carried an increased risk of breast cancer. The jury awarded Scroggin $27 million in punitive damages and $2.75 million in compensatory damages, the AP/MSNBC reports.

A federal judge struck down the punitive damages award after ruling that testimony from a former FDA administrator should not have been allowed at the original trial. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis then ordered a partial retrial to re-evaluate the level of punitive damages (AP/MSNBC, 6/21).

Wyeth argued in its petition to the Supreme Court that allowing a jury to reconsider punitive damages and not other issues in the case violated the company's constitutional rights (Wall Street Journal, 6/22).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

© 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

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