Wyeth May Face Prempro Class Action In Canada
8 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // July 1st, 2008 // 7:05 am
Last Friday, the Supreme Court of British Columbia denied an attempt by the drugmaker to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges its hormone replacement therapies cause breast cancer. And the move clears the way for a possible class action proceeding against not only Wyeth’s Canadian subsidiary, but Wyeth itself, The Canadian Press reports.
Hundreds of women who claim they developed breast cancer after taking the drugs - known as Premarin and Premplus in Canada - have contacted the law firm involved in the lawsuit. “Now we can put the case back on track toward getting it certified as a class action,” David Klein, an attorney for the one existing plaintiff, Dianna Stanway, tells the Press.
Wyeth asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the Canadian women didn’t have jurisdiction to sue the US parent of the Canadian subsidiary. But Justice Miriam Gropper refused to release the drugmaker from responsibility. “I find that the US defendant’s admitted engagement in activities in relation to the Canadian companies and to consumers in Canada is sufficient to establish a real and substantial connection,” she said in a written ruling released Monday.
Klein says it was important to keep the US defendants - not just the Canadian subsidiary - involved in the action because of the larger asset pool if there is a judgment against Wyeth, and because it would mean more witnesses to testify as to what the company knew about the drugs and what it was telling doctors and the public. “If we had just the Canadian defendants we felt that we would only be seeing a small part of the total picture,” he tells the Press.
If the class-action lawsuit is approved by the court, Klein says women in British Columbia will be able to join the lawsuit if they fit the category, and that women across Canada may also enter the lawsuit, with the court’s approval.
war horse
The marketing of these drugs was masterful–the implication to women was that they’d be “Feminine Forever” (the title of the book that launched the whole HRT thing), not the sweaty, crazy, dried up messes they were led to think they’d become.
Decades ago, when HRT was first launched in Japan, focus groups were conducted on menopause. And one of the most common responses was “was did no one ever tell us we were sick and that there were treatments for this?” Exactly.
The docs were sold a bill of goods that basically consisted of “hormones forever”–the pill till menopause, then HRT. And they were told they would be lowering the patient’s risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, etc.
Former pharma Marketing Exec
“Wyeth asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the Canadian women didn’t have jurisdiction to sue the US parent of the Canadian subsidiary. But Justice Miriam Gropper refused to release the drugmaker from responsibility. “I find that the US defendant’s admitted engagement in activities in relation to the Canadian companies and to consumers in Canada is sufficient to establish a real and substantial connection,” she said in a written ruling released Monday”.
This isn’t just a HRT issue. J.I.M. - you think this just might be able to help your Preemption issues?
Warm congratulations to Canada for stepping up to the plate on this.
Hey - isn’t today July 1 - Canada Day?
Justice in MI
It’s an interesting question, and one I must say I hadn’t thought about - the potential liability of companies to suits brought outside the U.S. if/when preemption is upheld here.
Of course, it wouldn’t help U.S. citizens harmed, for example, by a drug that was approved through defrauding the FDA.
Sharon
I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2001 at age 51. A mammogram and ultrasound did not detect the cancer. It did show a calcification deposit just below the nipple. A lumpectomy was done to clean it up so that I would have a clear mammogram the next year and low and behold it was cancer. Breast tissue showed that the tumour was Estrogen and Progesterone receptors positive.
I was started on HRT in 1990 at the age of 40 and I was administered HRT drugs for eleven years until I was 51. I was told later that I should not have been on HRT for no more than 4 years.
After being told that these drugs were safe and would keep me feeling and looking younger I took what was prescribed for me.
In 2005 I was diagnosed again with cancer, this time of the bladder. I had 8 of 6 weeks (once a week) sessions of BCG chemo. December 16th, 2006 I had a major heart attack, an angioplasty was done within 12 hours and a bare metal stent inserted into my artery. On March 23rd, 2008 I lost my bladder and now have an Ileostomy. Very, very devestating. In 2003, studies showed that hormone replacement therapy (HRT), a treatment used by many postmenopausal women, significantlt increased the risk of bladder and other cancers. (Printed from http://www.healthAtoZ.com) (www.healthatoz/Atoz/ency/bladder_cancer.jsp)
Canadian women (all women) need to have restitution in this case against the makers of drugs that destroy peoples lives. My family and I have gone thru hell and back since 2001.
Thank you for letting me get this said and know that someone out there is listening.
Sharon Hicks
Wendy Dodd
It is about time the Canadian Justice system does not cowtail to big corporate pharmaceuticals that control the drug trade.
The law does not allow for exlusionary rules and loop holes, that do not stand up in court. We cannot exclude Wyeth because on one hand you have thousands of women who were fed misinformation, and false advertised claims which cost the drug company millions of dollars.
Wyeth used marketing sale representatives to give the free samples to doctors. Wyeth paid for the freebie golf, and travel trips to induce doctors to sell the drug to their patients. Wyeth undertook marketing to the Canadian women, by hiring marketing consultants and conducting studies on how to market to the Canadian market. Wyeth advertised heavily in issues of Chatelaine, Readers Digest and other targeted canadian women’s magazines from 1997 to 2002.
Wyeth undertook all these steps to ensure that Canadian women would buy or be given free samples of their drug Premarin. How much proof do you need?
The Canadian government has full authority and jurisdiction to protect its citizens against immoral and falsely advertised claims of Wyeth and their drug Premarin in millions of issues of women’s magazines, and using a network of thousands of Canadian physicians who were fed misleading and illegal medical claims of HRT. They fully penetrated and dominated the canadian market for HRT drugs.
Premarin in Canada which was marketed as a “lifetime” drug in advertisements that drug was going to keep women young, stop heart attacks, prevent osteo-arthritis and stop them from aging. Did Wyeth verify all these false claims. No.
Many women in Canada who took HRT have been positively diagnosed with breast cancer, with both progesterone and estrogen positive tumors.
Wyeth must be held accountable and responsible for their greed, and intentionally misleading Canadian women and causing death, cancer and permanant damages. If the Canadian judicial system does not find these drug companies responsible and make them pay for the injuries they inflicted on women, the Canadian government will be paying the bill.
That means Canadian citizens are paying for the health care of women with breast cancer, not Wyeth.
Wyeth continues to market its drugs without testing, without any drug trials and are pushing them onto the market as fast as they can make them in foreign countries.
Just recently Senator Grassley of Iowa has found that Wyeth was even using ghostwriters for medical reports that were based on lies. Wyeth hired professors, doctors and other authority figures to rubber stamp these reports which were all based on false information. Senator Grassley has asked for a complete investigation of this company Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in the United States.
Now, if the US is investigating this company on HRT false reports, what on earth is Canada doing to protect ourselves and investigate these false claims?
If we cannot rely on the courts for justice in this very obvious illegal and fraudulent company that falsifies documentation on the safety of their drug, that who is responsible?
Fidela Habacon
I wonder ,where I can inquire to file my case. I took HRT for 10 years -had side effects like bleeding when I took PREMARIN and had problem with gallstone(had cholecystectomy ) which ,I believe is estrogen related. In the fall of 2006, I was diagnosed with left cancer of the breast and after 3 surgeries ,decided with much difficulty to have mastectomy of the left breast. I used to work at a hospital and remembered attending presentations given by gynecologists and a woman doctor from Womens Hospital in Vancouver,claiming HRT is anti-osteoporotic and anti-cardiac???? How could these drug companies had the heart/conscience to tell us a bunch of lies?I hope that something is being done to give us compensation for the lost of our breasts and for the suffering we are experiencing related to this. Thank you.I will be waiting for your kind reply. Sincerely yours, Fidela
Heather Goll
I as well would like to know who do I contact with my case. My story is like the other ladies here. Thank you
Heather Goll
I had taken these drugs for approx. 10 years and developed breast cancer afew years later having to have my breast removed. I also would like to go after the manufacturer.
Thank you