A state court jury in Philadelphia decided that Wyeth’s Prempro caused an Arkansas woman to develop breast cancer and, following two days of deliberations, awarded her and husband a total of $1.5 million in compensatory damages. The drugmaker’s conduct was described as “malicious, wanton, willful or oppressive.” And we haven’t gotten to the punitive damages yet, folks. That gets decided tomorrow.

Just when Wyeth seemed on the verge of putting the fen-phen litigation behind it (although $21 billion in reserves is hard to forget), the Prempro litigation threatens to cast another long shadow. The drugmaker won the first Prempro trial in Arkansas; lost a second case in Philadelphia before a mistrial was declared, and settled a third case before trial began in Nevada.

With as many as 8,000 more lawsuits in the hopper, Wyeth may appear a little less attractive to investors and potential acquirers. To rebuild its image after the diet-pill scandal, the company changed its name from American Home Products. If this keeps up, maybe Wyeth will do that again. Anyone have any suggestions?

[tags]Prempro, Wyeth[/tags]