Plaintiff Alleges Taking Prempro For Almost Ten Years Caused Her Breast Cancer

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

In the third hormone replacement therapy (HRT) case to get to trial, 71-year old Helene Rush alleges that her breast cancer diagnosed in 1999 is due to the fact that she took Prempro, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s estrogen-progestin hormone therapy medication, for nearly ten years.

According to a January 23, 2007 Associated Press (AP) article published by the Houston Chronicle, Wyeth countered that allegation in the trial’s opening statement phase when the drug company’s lawyer argued that Rush would have probably developed breast cancer even if she never took Prempro.

This January 23 article in the Houston Chronicle also puts the Rush Prempro trial into context as regards the overall hormone replacement therapy (HRT) litigation:

Helene Rush’s case against Wyeth is the second suit in Arkansas federal court and the third nationwide that accuses the drug maker of negligence regarding its hormone replacement therapy. More than 5,000 similar suits have been filed across the country.

In the nation’s first trial, a jury last year rejected claims made against Wyeth by another Arkansas woman, Linda Reeves of Benton. In Pennsylvania, a married couple won a $1.5 million jury award in a similar case, but a judge in October declared a mistrial.

In fact, there are two different Wyeth medications involved in these HRT lawsuits:

• Prempro, which is a combination of estrogen and progestin; and,
• Premarin, which is estrogen only.

As background, after researchers said in July 2002 that more breast cancer and heart problems occurred among women taking estrogen-progestin pills — based on some results from the Women’s Health Initiative study — many women stopped taking the Prempro and Premarin.

U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson is presiding over the Rush Prempro trial in Arkansas; it is expected to last two to three weeks.