Prempro, Premarin, and Provera

Janet, Jenner & Suggs has been part of a national effort for many years and in many states to win compensation for breast cancer victims who took Prempro®, a hormone replacement therapy drug manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. We represent some 1,200 women in litigation consolidated before federal courts in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Menopause Medications That Can Cause Cancer, Bone Loss And Heart Disease

For 40 years, women have been encouraged to take drugs for hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, and protection from brittle bones and heart attacks. Eighty-five percent of the six million women taking estrogen-progestin therapy are prescribed Prempro®. The name “Prempro®”comes from the prior drugs of Premarin® and Provera®. There have been many articles in the mainstream press in the last 10 years which have concluded that these specific medications can cause cancer, bone loss and heart disease.

Over the last 65 years, millions of women have received menopausal hormone therapy to relieve hot flashes and other discomforts caused by menopause. Through the 1970′s, menopausal women received estrogen to combat those symptoms. Premarin®, manufactured by Wyeth Laboratories, was the nation’s leading menopausal drug. But in the 1970′s the scientific community learned that Premarin® causes endometrial cancer. Predictably, sales of Premarin® plummeted, as women naturally stayed away.

Profits Over The Health Of Women

Wyeth was not about to sit still and watch its profits evaporate. Wyeth convinced women that if they combined Premarin® with another drug, Provera®, the endometrial cancer problem would disappear. Moreover, Wyeth told women that if they took the combination of Premarin® and Provera® that they would receive added protection to their heart, their bones, that it would help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, depression and increase their sexual vitality. Wyeth turned the combination of Premarin® and Provera® into a single pill, called “Prempro®,” and promoted it to many women as the Fountain of Youth.

Woman’s Health Initiative Study

In July 2002, a federal study released findings that long-term use of Prempro® leads to increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease and strokes. This study, called the Woman’s Health Initiative (WHI), showed doctors that virtually everything that the pharmaceutical companies had been telling them about the benefits and risks of Prempro® was wrong! The study concluded that the risks of Prempro® outweighed its benefits, and urged woman on the study to stop taking Prempro® immediately. Many other studies followed finding similar if not even more striking results. Wyeth scurried to change its warning label, but for thousands of woman, it was too late – they had tragically developed breast cancer, and their lives forever changed. A breast cancer epidemic had been created.