Friday, October 23, 2009

Wyeth - Prempro:


Wyeth, now a Pfizer unit, ignored patient safety when it sold the hormone-replacement drug Prempro without regard to the medicine’s breast-cancer risk, a lawyer said at the end of a trial in Philadelphia.

Officials at Pfizer’s Wyeth unit avoided studying Prempro’s health risks to protect more than $2 billion in annual sales, causing more women to develop breast cancer, Zoe Littlepage said today during closing arguments in the second phase of Connie Barton’s trial. Littlepage represents the Illinois woman, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2002.

“The evidence is overwhelming that Wyeth showed disregard for the safety” of women taking Prempro to treat menopause symptoms, Littlepage told a state court jury. In the first phase of the case, the panel concluded Sept. 25 that Prempro helped cause Barton’s cancer and she deserved $3.7 million in damages.


No comments: