Posted on 08/23/2006 12:33:47 PM PDT by shield
CBNNews.com – LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - As lawyers argued over which evidence should be allowed, a judge Monday delayed jury selection in the first trial of 4,500 lawsuits filed nationwide that challenge Prempro, a hormone-replacement therapy that some women say causes breast cancer.
Linda Reeves of Benton sued drug maker Wyeth, claiming she developed breast cancer after taking Prempro for eight years. Helene Rush of Little Rock has argued similar claims in a federal suit against the drug maker. Rush has an Oct. 10 court date.
Prempro is a widely prescribed estrogen-progestin combination used to treat premenopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes.
While plaintiffs say Wyeth was more worried about money than patient safety while developing the drug, the drug company wants jurors to see its request - made to the Food and Drug Administration in 1983 - for a study about the effects of combining estrogen and progestin.
Reeves' lawyers want the evidence limited, saying jurors could be overwhelmed by such a huge file and miss its key portions.
Lawyers for both sides argued about the evidence before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry L. Jones Jr. on Monday as Jones filled in temporarily for U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson, who will preside over the trial. Jones pushed back jury selection to Tuesday.
A Women's Health Initiative study found that women who took Prempro had a higher risk of breast cancer, stroke and coronary heart disease.
Wyeth recently reached more than $21 billion in settlements for lawsuits over another drug combination, fen-phen, which was prescribed as a diet drug. Analysts have said they don't think
Wyeth's hormone-replacement therapy settlements will be nearly as high as the fen-phen cases.
Thank goodness I was not able to tolerate it! It made me into a flaming bee-otch and I stopped it.
Really crappy headline - first thing I thought there was a suit going to human trials that replaces hormones!
I was miserable without it..........severe mood swings, hot flashes, insomnia, it was awful until I started taking Prempro.
I take bioidentical hormones now. Much better, but pricey. Hubs says it's totally worth it!
I would absolutely love to hear more about the bioidentical hormones - as I am definitely thinking of looking into this topic further. The insomnia (my major symptom of this wonderful time of my life) is absolutely awful.
I highly recommend you try them. I had insomnia, too, and it stopped within the first week!
sw
Not if the jury's packed with morons.
sw
sw
Not if the jury's packed with morons.
Why should they be morons? If the woman's cancer was estrogen receptive, then the hormones probably had something to do with. However, it seems that the one to sue is the doctor.
Doctors who prescribe estrogen replacement drugs say the advantages outweigh the risks.
However, oncologists will all say to stay away from them.
But it's not near as healthy. If you've got your homones in balance properly with bio-identical hormones...it helps with weight, skin, sleep...there's so much to balanced female hormones and the rest of your body...it's quite amazing...
I have never sat on one of these types of juries. I am just saying that the potential risks of hormone replacement are not stressed enough. My wife developed breast cancer after undergoing such a therapy. The docs who prescribe it cannot say enough good about it, but cancer docs say otherwise.
FWIW, we are not suing anyone.
These type of law suits make me ill. I was trained as a physician back in the early '80's when the medical research said that hormone replacement was the best practice. We made it a point to tell women to take hormone replacement. Now with new data that is not the case AT THIS TIME. The drug companies are NOT at fault. Mankind and our limited knowledge is. So sue GOD.
That is interesting. My aunt also got breast cancer...about 6 months after starting hormone replacement therapy. This was 10 or so years ago and the doctor told her that the cancer was probably already there, and the hormones just made it grow faster. She had a cyst removed from the same area previously.
We accepted the explanation, and didn't really think any more about it. She wouldn't sue anyone either.
Yeah, I gather the hormones are like fuel to a fire that is already there.
I had a friend whose doc gave her 10mg. of estrogen [the hormone made from horses...what do horses have to do with a woman, I say?] not the bio-identical hormones...10mg is huge...she too came down with breast cancer...
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