It took a Reno jury 12 hours over two days to decide Wyeth’s Prempro drug helped cause cancer in three Nevada women, and that they deserve a total of $133.5 million in damages. In reaching its decision, the panel determined the drugmaker was negligent, produced a defective product and concealed facts about the safety of the product, according to The Reno Gazette-Journal.

This is the largest verdict, so far, in the Prempro litigation, which numbers about 5,300 lawsuits. As many as 6 million women are believed to have taken the Prempro and a related drug, Premarin. Wyeth has won two federal lawsuits and another in state court in Philadelphia since litigation over the drug began in August 2006. Three Philadelphia juries also have found the drugs caused breast cancer in women and ordered Wyeth to pay a total of $3 million in damages. Judges later threw out those verdicts because of flaws in the cases, Bloomberg News reminds us.

Lawyers for the women in Nevada argued that Wyeth ignored Prempro’s health risks and failed to properly warn docs and consumers about a cancer link to boost profits. Wyeth’s lawyers insisted extensive safety tests were conducted and warned were issued through prescription labels and info sheets.

“This verdict raises the stakes in Prempro litigation to a new level for Wyeth,” Brian Turner, a lawyer who reps other women suing the drugmaker over the med, tells Bloomberg. “This verdict should get the attention of Wyeth’s board and its shareholders.” The jury is scheduled to return tomorrow to consider punitive damages.