One of three Plaintiff’s awarded $134,000,000.00 in damages against pharmaceutical giant Wyeth died Thursday at noon, said one of her Reno lawyers, Geoff White. She was under hospice care for her lung cancer, he said. She was 65.
Forrester, Arlene Rowatt, 67, of Incline Village and Jeraldine Scofield, 74, of Fallon, were awarded $58 million after a jury found that Wyeth drug, Prempro, used to counter menopausal symptoms, caused their breast cancer.
The results of two large-scale studies on the health risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for post-menopausal women dropped a bombshell of bad news this year. The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study, sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the UK’s Million Women Study, sponsored by the British Medical Research Council (MRC) and Cancer Research UK, both found that HRT significantly increases the risk of invasive breast cancer. The US study also found higher risks of heart attack, stroke and blood clotting. The NIH took the unusual step of halting the WHI trial and recommended that women stop taking HRT for mild menopausal symptoms.
The jury initially ordered Wyeth to pay $134 million, but Washoe District Judge Robert Perry ruled that the verdicts were the “result of passion and prejudice” and should be lowered.
The $58 million remains the highest amount awarded yet as Wyeth faces thousands of similar cases across the country. Wyeth has appealed the verdict to the Nevada Supreme Court.
“One of her best events was her ability to get some degree of justice from Wyeth even though she knew she was going to die,” White said.
“The decisions made in corporate boardrooms in Philadelphia and New Jersey can have tragic consequences for a family in Yerington, Nevada, and did in this case,” White said