BOSTONA settlement has been reached between drug company Eli Lilly and Co. and four women who claim their breast cancer was caused by synthetic estrogen made by the company.
Attorney Julie Oliver-Zhang, who represented the four sisters, confirmed that the two parties had reached an agreement on an undisclosed amount on Wednesday, the second day of the trial in U.S. District Court in Boston. The sisters claim that their mother took a manufactured estrogen called diethylstilbestrol (DES) while she was pregnant with them in the 1950s, leading to their cancers. They had not specified damages sought in the lawsuit.
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The sisters' case was the first to go to trial out of scores of similar claims filed in Boston and around the country. A total of 51 women, including the Melnicks, have lawsuits pending in U.S. District Court in Boston against more than a dozen companies that made or marketed the drug.
Sisters with cancer blame mom's meds
DES was prescribed to millions of pregnant women over three decades to prevent miscarriages, premature births and other problems. It was taken off the market in the early 1970s after it was linked to a rare vaginal cancer in women whose mothers used DES. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates between 5 and 10 million pregnant women and children were exposed to the DES.
Studies later showed the drug did not prevent miscarriages.
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