Women Awarded Millions Over Cancer Suit

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Jurors have awarded millions of dollars in punitive damages to three Nevada women who claimed hormone replacement drugs caused their breast cancer.<br/><br/>An attorney for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

Monday, October 15th 2007, 9:27 pm

By: News On 6

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Jurors have awarded millions of dollars in punitive damages to three Nevada women who claimed hormone replacement drugs caused their breast cancer.

An attorney for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals calls the $99 million award "an aberration" and says it will be appealed.

The judgment is by far the largest award to date against the Madison, New Jersey-based company, which faces about 5,300 similar lawsuits across the country.

All involve the drugs Premarin, an estrogen replacement, and Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin.

The drugs are prescribed to women to ease symptoms of menopause.

During the trial, Wyeth lawyers argued that the drugs were safe and approved by the FDA. And they argued the women had other risk factors, making it impossible to link their cancer with the hormone replacement drugs.