Judge declares mistrial in case against Wyeth's Prempro

Oct 16 2006

A judge in a Pennsylvania state court in Philadelphia on Wednesday declared a mistrial in a case in which a jury ruled that the use of Wyeth's combination hormone replacement therapy Prempro in part caused breast cancer to develop in a 66-year-old woman, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Judge Norman Ackerman of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas granted the mistrial following a motion filed by Wyeth (Wall Street Journal, 10/12).

The jury for the case last week voted 7-1 that use of Prempro and Wyeth's Premarin was a "factual cause" of the development of breast cancer in Jennie Nelson of Dayton, Ohio -- who had taken Prempro for five years before being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001.

The jury awarded $1 million to her and $500,000 to her husband in compensatory damages. Wyeth would have been required to pay the money only if Nelson had proven in the second phase of the trial -- which was scheduled to begin on Oct. 14 -- that Wyeth acted negligently and failed to issue sufficient warnings about the side effects of the drug (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/5).

Ackerman's ruling means that the trial will not proceed to the second phase and that the couple will not receive any of the compensatory damages, Bloomberg/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Ackerman did not give a reason for declaring the mistrial, and his law clerk said that he sealed the records in the case.

Wyeth's attorneys did not provide a reason for filing the motion, and Ken Suggs -- a lawyer representing Nelson -- said that the motion went unopposed.

"We are going to push hard to get this case back on the docket for trial as soon as possible so we can again show Wyeth's culpability in selling these drugs," Suggs said (Pearson/Feeley, Bloomberg/Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/12).

As many as six million women had taken Prempro, which contains estrogen and progestin, to treat menopause symptoms before results from the Women's Health Initiative released in 2002 linked the medication to a 24% increase in risk for invasive breast cancer and other health risks.

According to the NIH Web site, the increased risk translates to eight additional cases of breast cancer per 10,000 women annually.

About 5,000 lawsuits have been filed over use of the drug, and a jury in a U.S. District Court in Little Rock, Ark., last month dismissed negligence charges in the first of the suits to go to trial (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/5).