Jury decides hormone therapy caused Utah woman’s breast cancer

Courts Jury finds hormone therapy led to breast cancer; drug companies vow to appeal.

A federal jury awarded $5.1 million in compensatory damages to a Utah woman Friday after finding hormone therapy drugs caused her breast cancer and drugmakers were negligent because they failed to adequately warn of that risk on labels provided to doctors and patients.

The U.S. District Court jury, comprised of seven women and five men, sat through four weeks of expert testimony and scientific presentations before being handed the case early Wednesday afternoon. They came back with a decision two days later.

Toshiko Okuda, who filed her case in 2004, wept at the news after the jury left the courtroom.

In a statement released later through James Esparza, her Utah attorney, Okuda said she was "pleased that the jury, after four weeks of hearing the facts of this case, elected to stand up and tell Wyeth and Upjohn that their conduct in marketing and promoting Premarin, Provera and Prempro was unreasonable and irresponsible for an American corporation."

"I plan to move forward and will support other women when they have their day in court," Okuda added. "I want to thank all the attorneys and others involved in my case whether in the courthouse or outside the courthouse who worked countless hours to give the opportunity for success in this case. I want to thank the jury and their families for giving up four weeks of their lives to serve on this jury and serve this important civic responsibility."

The drug companies also released a statement Friday afternoon, saying they plan to seek to have the decision reversed through post-trial motions and an appeal. A spokesman pointed out that nine of the last 12 hormone therapy cases heard by juries that reached a final verdict were decided in their favor.

"We are disappointed with the jurys verdict and believe there is no basis in fact or law for this decision," said Christopher Loder, a spokesman for Pfizer, Wyeths parent company. "Hormone therapy medicines are an important treatment option for many women with debilitating symptoms of menopause."

Okuda was among dozens of Utah women, and thousands nationally, who sued Wyeth and other drug manufacturers after the Womens Health Initiative study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, found an increased risk of invasive ductal breast cancer among women taking Prempro, a combination hormone replacement drug. About 10,000 cases were filed against the companies. Pfizer has spent nearly $900 million to resolve more than half those cases.

Okuda underwent a hysterectomy in 1985 at age 47 and, because of severe menopausal symptoms, took various doses and combinations of hormone therapy drugs Premarin, Provera and Prempro over the next 17 years. In 2002, she was diagnosed and successfully treated for infiltrating ductal breast cancer.

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Jury decides hormone therapy caused Utah woman’s breast cancer