Mixed Results It's been a couple of months since the pharmaceutical giant Wyeth took the stand to defend itself against lawsuits claiming that its synthetic hormone replacement therapy drug Prempro caused several cases of breast cancer. So how is Wyeth faring? Better than the women taking the horse urine it was peddling, I'd say: In September, it won the first case when a federal jury in Little Rock, Arkansas dismissed a breast-cancer claim filed there by a 67-year-old woman.
But the ground Wyeth is standing on has gotten a bit shakier recently: In early October, a different jury -- this one in Ohio -- ruled that Prempro was at least partially responsible for the breast cancer suffered by a woman named Jennie Nelson. The jury awarded Nelson and her husband $1.5 million in damages -- but there's a catch. Nelson will only receive that compensation if she and her lawyers can prove that Wyeth "failed to issue sufficient warnings or was otherwise negligent or reckless."
In a country whose legal system is fraught with loopholes, grey areas, and skewed priorities, forgive me if I'm not overly optimistic about Mrs. Nelson's chances of ever seeing a dime from Wyeth. But it's not even about the money.
The really disgusting part of this whole mess is that these women -- and thousands more like them -- were ever sold hormones that don't even remotely resemble the ones their own bodies produce and told that they were protecting themselves from everything from hot flashes to osteoporosis. I know hot flashes are no picnic, but I don't know a single woman who would choose breast cancer and heart disease over them. But those little nuisances were swept under the rug as long as possible so that Wyeth could continue to line its pockets at the expense of those women just looking for a little relief.
And I thought the legal system was bad.
But regardless of how these lawsuits pan out, it's important for you to know that you aren't without safe options for getting that relief that Wyeth promised and then delivered at such a terrible price. If you've been reading the Health eTips or Nutrition & Healing for a while, you probably know about bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. It uses hormones that DO exactly mimic the ones found in your own body. Which means that it doesn't come with any of the risks associated with Prempro.
If you'd like to learn more about bio-identical HRT, refer back to the September 2002 issue of Nutrition & Healing. Subscribers can download and view this issue for free by logging on with the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent newsletter. Or you may want to contact a physician member of the American College for Advancement in Medicine by calling (800)532-3688 or visiting their website at www.acam.org. Source: "Woman wins first phase of Prempro-breast cancer trial," Newsday.com (www.newsday.com), 10/4/06 |
