A Philadelphia jury awarded punitive damages to an Illinois woman who said Wyeth's Prempro hormone replacement therapy caused her breast cancer, but the world will have to wait at least another month before anyone knows how much.
As the jury in Common Pleas Court was nearing a verdict on how much to award to punish Wyeth, which last week completed a merger with Pfizer Inc., company lawyers asked Judge Sandra Mazer Moss to seal the amount until a verdict is reached in a similar case also being tried in Philadelphia. The judge agreed.
Wyeth's attorneys George McDavid and Michael Scott argued that a public announcement of punitive damages in the Barton case could bias jurors in the other case, referred to as Kendall v. Wyeth.
Barton's attorney, Zoe Littlepage, argued that the public's right to know outweighed those concerns and that Wyeth had failed to prove damage, not just speculate that it could occur. Littlepage also said she feared that Wyeth would use the tactic to delay repeatedly as 9,000 cases involving Pfizer/Wyeth menopause drugs make their way through the courts.
Source is right here.
