Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601127&sid=aEIEyohInpt0
Pfizer Wins New Trial of Lawsuit Over Menopause Drugs
By Jef Feeley
May 6 (Bloomberg) -- A Pfizer Inc. unit won a re-trial of a Pennsylvania lawsuit over its menopause drugs that ended in a first jury’s award of $1.5 million in damages, the company said.
A Philadelphia judge yesterday ruled lawyers for the plaintiff, Merle Simon, must ask another jury to consider whether Pfizer’s Pharmacia & Upjohn subsidiary hid the health risks of its Provera hormone-replacement drug. In December, an appeals court reinstated Simon’s original verdict after it was thrown out by the trial court, giving the judge the option of ordering a new trial.
“We anticipate we have a good opportunity to win another verdict on behalf of Mrs. Simon,” Jim Morris, one of the woman’s lawyers, said in a telephone interview today. “We intend to push forward with this case until justice is served.”
More than 6 million women have taken hormone-replacement medicines to treat menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings. Until 1995, many patients combined Premarin, an estrogen-based drug made by Wyeth, with progestin- laden Provera, made by Upjohn.
Wyeth later combined the two hormones in Prempro. The drugs are still on the market. New York-based Pfizer, the world’s largest drugmaker, completed its $68 billion purchase of Wyeth in October.