Court Finds Hormone Therapy Drugs Caused Woman's Breast Cancer

A Pennsylvania state court ruled in favor yesterday of an Illinois woman who claimed that hormone therapy drugs she had taken gave her breast cancer.

In her lawsuit, Donna Kendall claimed that the hormone therapy drugs Premarin, Prempro and Provera that she had taken for 11 years led to invasive ductal breast cancer and eventually to two mastectomies in 2003, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The Pennsylvania jury awarded the woman $28 million in punitive damages and $6.3 million in compensation.

Kendall's attorney Tobias Millrood of the law firm Pogust Braslow and Millwood told the news source, "Unfortunately, no amount of money will fairly compensate Donna Kendall for the suffering she has endured, but she is hopeful that the outcome will help avoid what has happened to her from happening to other women in the future."

Representatives from Pfizer, which owns the companies who manufacture the drugs in question, said they plan to appeal the Philadelphia court's verdict. Pemarin, Prempro and Provera, which are used to treat the symptoms of menopause, remain on the market.

In 2002, the National Institutes of Health stopped a study on hormone replacement therapy after five years because of apparent increases of breast cancer, heart attack and stroke rates among participants.