Ruling: Hormone-Replacement Drugs Caused Cancer

Hormone-replacement drugs made by Wyeth and a Pfizer Inc. unit caused an Arkansas woman's breast cancer and she deserves at least $2.75 million in damages, jurors ruled in the companies' first loss in federal court.

Jurors in Little Rock, Ark., deliberated 12 hours over two days before finding the combination of Wyeth's Premarin and Pharmacia & Upjohn's Provera menopause drugs helped cause Donna Scroggin's cancer. The former factory worker had a double mastectomy after taking hormone-replacement drugs for about 10 years.

"This verdict should make the Wyeth folks ask whether they really want to try the more than 5,000 cases they face over these drugs," a Philadelphia-based lawyer representing women who took hormone-replacement medicines, Ken Rothweiler, said.