First Jury Award Issued over Prempro Claim

By Keely Hyslop

Published on January 15, 2007

A jury agreed and made an award in Nelson's favor, making the case the first Prempro lawsuit to result in a jury award. In October, a jury awarded Nelson $1.5 million in damages, but a judge later threw out the award on grounds of juror misconduct.

During the trial, Suggs argued that Wyeth failed to research whether Prempro posed an increased cancer risk before putting it on the market in 1995. He also claimed that Wyeth planned to challenge drug studies rather than address the drug's health risks, because it had over-marketed the drug. Wyeth has since revealed that Prempro increases a woman’s risk of contracting invasive breast cancer by approximately 24 percent.

Nelson’s case against Wyeth is only the fourth of its kind to go to trial. Currently, Wyeth is facing about 5,000 menopause drug claims involving Prempro and another drug, Premarin.

Comment on this article →