Jury weighs punitive damages in finding Prempro-breast cancer link; thousands of cases pending

Pa. jury weighs damages in Prempro-cancer case

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia jury is weighing punitive damages against drugmaker Wyeth after finding a link between an Illinois woman’s breast cancer and the hormone-replacement drug she took.

Connie Barton’s case is one of a handful of Prempro lawsuits to go to trial out of several thousand filed across the country. About 1,500 are pending in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia jury awarded $3.75 million in compensatory damages Friday. They say the company’s actions were willful and warrant punitive damages.

The 64-year-old Barton is a retired hospital records clerk from Peoria, Ill. She took Prempro for five years before her 2002 cancer diagnosis.