Cancer linked to menopause drug in new report

Popular menopause drugs made in part from estrogen found in the urine of pregnant horses have caused breast cancer in thousands of Canadian women, according to allegations in a new report by the Canadian Cancer Societys top epidemiologist.

The body of evidence to date overwhelmingly points to a causal connection between the use of Premplus and the development of invasive breast cancer in women, the societys Prithwish De wrote in a report to be filed in a Canadian class-action lawsuit against drug manufacturer Wyeth Canada, now owned by Pfizer.

The drug manufacturer states that its products are safe and effective when used as directed and they do not cause breast cancer. A trial date is set for October in a Vancouver court.

According to the report, hormone replacement therapy was the main risk factor in an estimated 12,000 new Canadian breast cancer cases detected between 1994 and 2006 at a time when Wyeths products, Premarin and Premplus, dominated the market. The drugs remain on the market, but in more recent years they have contained strong warnings and are also prescribed in lower doses.

In the lawsuit against Wyeth, women like Hamiltons Rose Scarff, 70, say they were not properly warned of breast cancer risk when the drugs prescribed to relieve menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness were packaged by the drug firm and prescribed by doctors.

I never suspected there was anything wrong with taking it, said Scarff, who developed an aggressive form of breast cancer after taking combined hormone replacement therapy continuously for 10 years.

Like millions of other women in North America, Scarff said she wanted to recapture a youthful zest extolled in health literature youd feel like a younger woman, Scarff recalled of articles about menopause relief treatments as she entered menopause at age 49.

American courts have dealt with these allegations for years. Pfizer, which in 2009 acquired Wyeth, has paid $1.7 billion to settle nearly all of the 10,000 hormone replacement therapy claims against the drug manufacturer. Pfizer said it makes no admission of liability in the American settlements.

Since 2004 Health Canada has revised the product safety information for the drugs to list potential side effects including coronary heart disease, gynecologic cancers, breast cancer and dementia.

Two medications, Premarin and Premplus, are at the core of both Des study and a Canadian class action suit for which he was hired as a hormone replacement therapy expert. The estrogen in the drugs comes from the urine of pregnant mares, mostly produced by a Pfizer plant in Manitoba.

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Cancer linked to menopause drug in new report