Reno jury cuts $100 million from Wyeth drug-case award

RENO — A jury on Friday slashed $100 million from a judgment against pharmaceutical giant Wyeth after it conceded a previous award was improper because it was intended to punish the company for its hormone replacement drugs.

Washoe District Judge Robert Perry instructed the five-man, two-woman jury to reconsider a $134.5 million compensatory award issued Wednesday after questions were raised about whether the judgment included punitive damages.

Perry said the matter was brought to his attention by a bailiff, who overheard discussion in the jury room.

“If we don’t correct it now, we’ll be trying this case again,” the judge said.

After deliberating again for about three hours, jurors awarded a combined $35 million to three Nevada women for past and future medical expenses, as well as physical and emotional pain and suffering. The women claimed the company’s hormone replacement drugs caused their breast cancer.

Jurors will return Monday to consider awarding punitive damages.

Perry twice denied a motion by Wyeth lawyer Dan Webb to declare a mistrial over the jury’s confusion.

Webb argued that jurors were predisposed to punish the company before the trial’s punitive phase had begun.

The judge said jurors raised questions expressing their confusion during the initial deliberations, but Wyeth lawyers wouldn’t allow an explanation.

The panel deliberated for two days earlier this week before reaching its initial verdict.

The judgment remains the largest award to date against the Madison, N.J., company, which faces about 5,300 similar lawsuits across the country in state and federal courts.

All involve the drugs Premarin, an estrogen replacement, and Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin. The drugs are prescribed to women to ease symptoms of menopause.

Under the revised judgment, jurors awarded $10.5 million to 74-year-old Jeraldine Scofield of Fallon; $12 million to 67-year-old Arlene Rowatt of Incline Village; and $12.5 million to 65-year-old Pamela Forrester of Yerington.

During the trial, Wyeth lawyers argued that the drugs were safe and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They also said information about possible risks is included with every prescription and provided to the women’s doctors.

They argued that the women had other risk factors, making it impossible to link their cancer with the hormone-replacement drugs.

The drug company reached an undisclosed settlement last October with a fourth Nevada woman who had been part of the lawsuit.

Carol McCreary of Reno was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001 after taking Prempro for about three years. Her case was settled just days before her trial was to begin.

“I am happy to get on with my life and not spend the next several weeks in a courtroom,” she said in a statement soon after the settlement was reached.

McCreary, 59, died in April.