CORPORATE CANCER: Wyeth Trying To Make Appeals Outlive The Plaintiffs?

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ — A state court jury in Philadelphia today found that Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) provided inadequate warnings on its drug Prempro and that the Hormone Therapy drug caused invasive breast cancer in Jennie Nelson, a 67 year old Ohio woman. The jury of nine awarded damages to Mrs. Nelson of $2.4 million and an additional $600,000 to her husband. This is the third time in which a Philadelphia state court jury found that Wyeth’s Hormone Therapy drugs caused a woman’s breast cancer.

“We are very grateful to the members of the jury who carefully considered the facts in Mrs. Nelson’s case. We also find it especially rewarding that two separate juries have believed in the merits of the case and found for Mrs. Nelson,” said Tobias Millrood of the law firm Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler, co-counsel for Jennie Nelson. “Both times this case has been heard on terms established by Wyeth and still the juries have clearly found that Prempro causes breast cancer.”

In 2001, Mrs. Nelson underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy and radiation and today remains on anti-hormonal medication. Mrs. Nelson’s case was originally heard by a jury in the fall of 2006 and on October 4, 2006 the jury found in the first phase of the trial that her use of Wyeth’s postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy drug Prempro was a cause of her invasive lobular breast cancer. In October 2006, the jury awarded Mrs. Nelson $1.5 million in compensatory damages, on the Phase I verdict. A mistrial was later granted on the basis of juror ineligibility based on a motion by Wyeth.