A jury awarded 112 million dollars in punitive damages for two women who developed breast cancer after taking Prempro, a synthetic hormone pill from Wyeth which contains a synthetic progestin. (1-6) A large jury award is intended to send a message. The jury was outraged at the wanton and reckless conduct of the synthetic hormone maker, Wyeth, for ignoring and suppressing information that Prempro causes breast cancer. In addition, the jury was outraged that Wyeth paid consultants and medical ghostwriters to write medical journal articles playing down the risk of breast cancer. Company profit was placed ahead of patient safety. This jury award is only one of ten thousand cases waiting for their day in court. The jury is still out.
Women's Health Initiative Bombshell
In 2002, a bombshell appeared in the medical literature, and massive numbers of women switched from Prempro to safer bio-identical hormones. This was the 2002 WHI study (Women’s Health Initiative) which showed that PremPro™ causes breast cancer. This massive shift away from synthetic Prempro™ reduced breast cancer rates by 10,000 fewer cases per year in the US and Canada.(7-8) This is a reduction of about nine per cent as reported by Ravdin in the New England Journal.(7-8)
The American Public Hoodwinked For 65 Years
This Prempro™ court case teaches us an important lesson. When a "Bad Drug" like Prempro™ gets FDA approval and placed on the market, what happens? The public is hoodwinked, and the drug company profits handsomely. The wheels of justice turn slowly. After 65 years and thousands of victims, our court system has finally ended a bad drug, in this case, a synthetic hormone called Prempro, a combination pill containing Premarin™ and Provera™. The Provera™ component is a progestin, a chemically altered version of bioidentical progesterone. This chemical alteration is done by adding a chemical group to the natural molecule. Why chemically alter a natural hormone? Chemical alteration is required to make the drug patentable, thereby protecting profits of the drug maker. Unfortunately, this chemical alteration of a natural hormone creates a “monster” hormone. The natural bioidentical human hormone is the one that nature made and the one that works best.
Another Important Lesson - Don't Use Synthetic Hormones
Another important lesson from this case is that synthetic hormones like Prempro, which are chemically altered versions of human hormones, are all "Monster Hormones" which should never have been approved by the FDA in the first place. Any alteration in a chemical structure of a hormone creates a Monster, and in the case of Prempro, the result is increased cancer and heart disease.
Changed Chemical Structure Results in Monster Hormones
The drug companies changed the chemical structure of human hormones to obtain patent protection and maximize profits. Human bioidentical hormones cannot be patented because they are found naturally in the human body, therefore they are not profitable for the drug companies.
Just Another Round in the Medical Information War
Drug companies routinely use their influence to control information in the mainstream media and the medical journals. They use medical ghostwriters to downplay adverse side effects of their products in order to maximize profits. They use medical ghostwriters to impugn and cast doubts on the competing product, bioidentical hormones. This is merely part of the Medical Information War played out in the media every day.
For references and links, see my web site: www.bioidenticalhormones101.com
References for Chapter 20. Synthetic Hormones, Pfizer-Wyeth Lose Big Court Case
(1) http://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/the-lbn-blog/2009/11/24/zoe-littlepage-discusses-112-million- wyeth-hrt-verdicts.html Zoe Littlepage Discusses $112 Million Wyeth HRT Verdicts. Tuesday, November 24,
(2) http://menstruationresearch.org/2009/11/23/prempros-losing-streak-continues/ Blog of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research PremPro’s Losing Streak Continues November 23rd, 2009 by Elizabeth Kissling
(3) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/business/24wyeth.html Another Loss for Pfizer in Drug Suits By DUFF WILSON November 23, 2009 NY Times. Pfizer has been ordered to pay a total of $103 million in punitive damages to two women who were found to have breast cancer after they used hormonal drugs
(4) http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20091125_Prempro_plaintiffs__lawyers_sold_their_story_to_the_jury.html Posted on Wed, Nov. 25, 2009 Prempro plaintiffs' lawyers sold their story to the jury. By Chris Mondics and Miriam Hill Inquirer Staff Writers The lawyers who won $103 million in two jury verdicts announced Monday against Pfizer Inc. relied as much on their storytelling ability as their knowledge of the law.
(5) http://www.dailymail.com/ap/ApTopStories/200911230561 AP Featured News Monday November 23, 2009 $75M verdict unsealed in Prempro-cancer case PATRICK WALTERS Associated Press Writer
(6) http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/juries_award_103m_in_punitives_in_two_prempro_cases/ Juries Award $103M in Punitives in Two Prempro Cases Posted Nov 24, 2009 By Debra Cassens Weiss Philadelphia juries have awarded two breast-cancer victims $103 million in punitive damages in two separate cases against Pfizer Inc. involving the marketing of the hormone replacement drug Prempro.
(7) http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr070105 The Decrease in Breast-Cancer
Incidence in 2003 in the United States. Peter M. Ravdin, Ph.D., M.D et al. N
Engl J Med 2007; 356:1670-1674 April 19, 2007. A comparison of incidence
rates in 2001 with those in 2004 (omitting the years in which the incidence was
changing) showed that the decrease in annual age-adjusted incidence was 8.6% .
(8) http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/09/23/jnci.djq345.abstract Breast Cancer Incidence and
Hormone Replacement Therapy in Canada by Prithwish De, C. Ineke Neutel, Ivo
Olivotto and Howard Morrison. JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst (2010). This drop
occurred concurrently with a 9.6% decline in the incidence rate of breast
cancer.