Second suit filed against Wyeth for Prempro

A second Lewis and Clark County resident has filed a lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Wyeth Inc., and two other drug companies, as well as Wyeth's subsidiaries, alleging the company's hormone replacement products caused her to develop breast cancer.

In documents filed in U.S. District Court in Helena,... "punish and make an example of" the corporations Wyeth, Pfizer and Parmacia & Upjohn and their individual top officials. ... Wyeth, alleging its hormone therapy drugs Prempro and Premarin created blood clots ... Wyeth downplayed significant health threats while promoting the menopause medications that permanently injured them.

... Premarin, Provera and Prempro, plus their generic equivalents, which recent studies linked to an increase not only in breast cancer and blood clots, but also heart attacks and strokes.... pharmaceutical companies tested, studied, designed, produced, marketed, promoted, packaged or otherwise placed these three drugs and their generic equivalents into the public stream of commerce. The drugs consist of estrogens and progestin, or a combination of those elements....

women going through menopause, ... convinced doctors and patients that menopause was not the natural process of aging... marketing efforts, Premarin became the most frequently dispensed prescription drug ... hormone replacement drugs was abruptly halted in 2002, after doctors concluded that the risks of taking Prempro outweighed its benefits.... later studies ... hormone replacement therapy stimulate the growth of breast cancer, it also made the tumors more difficult to diagnose ... warning s and labelings by the drug companies were "inadequate, misleading and inaccurate" ... lower doses of estrogen be used in treating menopause ... low dose hormone therapies ... multiple strengths of Premarin and Prempro. Currently taken by over 4 million women in the United States

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/01/05/helena/a09010505_02.txt