Judge cuts jury award in Wyeth suit

RENO, Nev., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A Nevada judge significantly reduced the amount of money three Nevada women will receive from their lawsuit against Wyeth over hormone therapy.

The women claimed Wyeth's hormone-therapy drugs Premarin and Prempro caused their breast cancer. They alleged Wyeth produced a dangerous product, and failed to adequately test the drugs or provide warnings about their risks.

A jury awarded them $134 million last fall, a figure Washoe District Judge Robert Perry cut to about $58 million, the Reno Gazette-Journal said Wednesday. Attorneys for the women said the judgment remains the largest personal injury award in Nevada, the newspaper said.

The judge wrote that a jury "could justifiably find a significant degree of reprehensibility" in Wyeth's "decision to misrepresent the risks and benefits of a product which the jury determined caused plaintiffs' cancers, in order to increase its bottom line." However, the judge also said "Wyeth did give a warning, although arguably inadequate and did sponsor some limited testing."