Minding The Pharm

The New York Times (12/13, BU1, Singer, Wilson) reported that “more than 13,000 people…have sued Wyeth over the last seven years,” alleging “that its menopause drugs” Premarin and Prempro “caused breast cancer and other problems.” Plaintiffs also contend that “Wyeth oversold the benefits of menopausal hormones and failed to properly warn of the risks.”

According to Dr. Jerome L. Avorn, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who has written about the subject in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “the cases demonstrate the importance of litigation in detailing exactly how drugmakers operate their businesses.”

The court documents also “illustrate a pattern in the history of hormone therapy. First, many doctors enthusiastically prescribe hormone therapy drugs. Then a few researchers publish studies cautioning about risks, causing sales to fall. And finally, some doctors start prescribing a new iteration of hormone drugs.

And while big pharma continues to use deceptive practices to help market their drugs, consumers in Florida are limited to legal protection by earlier tort reform. Fl  768.1256 Government Rules Defense has been interpreted by some courts to mean that a Florida resident  injured by a pharmaceutical drug, does not have the same legal rights as another person  injured by the same drug, in the same way, who happens to be from another state.  

(formerly Crews) v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, 3:06-cv-00659 (M.D. Tenn.) currently pending resolution in  the sixth circuit 

 American Association for Justice | 777 6th Street, NW | Washington, DC 20001  provides briefings.