Connie Barton and Donna Kendall, both won jury verdicts against Wyeth and Pharmacia & Upjohn over their menopause medication known as Prempro. This week, each had their verdicts affirmed.
Prempro contains a combination of conjugated estrogens and medroxyprogesterone. Conjugated estrogens are a mixture of estrogen hormones. Estrogen is a female sex hormone produced by the ovaries that is necessary for many processes in the body.
Medroxyprogesterone is also a female hormone, usually called "progesterone." It is important for the regulation of ovulation and menstruation.
Prempro is used to treat the symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, and vaginal dryness, burning, and irritation, and to prevent thinning of the bones (osteoporosis).
“We are very disappointed with the court’s decisions in these cases and continue to believe there was no basis in fact or law for the jury verdicts,” Chris Loder, a spokesman for New York-based Pfizer, said in an e-mailed statement. Pfizer officials will ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to review the lower court’s findings, he said.
More than 6 million women took Prempro and related menopause drugs to treat symptoms including hot flashes and mood swings before a 2002 study highlighted their links to cancer. At one point, Pfizer and its units faced more than 10,000 lawsuits over the medications.
