Sisters settle lawsuit on pregnancy drug
Source: Agencies |
January 11, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
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FOUR sisters who claimed their breast cancer was caused by a drug their mother took during pregnancy in the 1950s reached a settlement on Wednesday with Eli Lilly and Co in the first of scores of similar claims around America to go to trial.
Neither Eli Lilly nor lawyers for the women would disclose the financial terms of the settlement, which was announced on the second day of testimony during a trial in Boston.
Eli Lilly said it continues to believe its medication "did not cause the conditions alleged in this lawsuit" but the settlement was in its "best interest."
"Settling this trial helps us get back to what we want to focus on as a company; developing important new medications through research and partnerships with doctors and patients," it said.
A total of 51 women, including the Melnick sisters, filed lawsuits in Boston against more than a dozen companies that made or marketed a synthetic estrogen known as DES.
DES, or diethylstilbestrol, was prescribed to millions of pregnant women over three decades to prevent miscarriages, premature births and other problems. It was taken off the market in the early 1970s after it was linked to a rare vaginal cancer in women whose mothers used it.
Studies later showed the drug did not prevent miscarriages.
Attorney Aaron Levine, representing the Melnick sisters, told the jury during opening statements that Eli Lilly failed to test the drug's effect on fetuses before promoting it as a way to prevent miscarriages.
Lawyer James Dillon, for Eli Lilly, told the jury there was no evidence the drug causes breast cancer in the daughters of women who took it.
Dillon also said that no medical records show the mother of the four Melnick sisters took DES or that, if she did take it, it was made by Eli Lilly. Leading researchers at the time recommended DES be used for pregnant women who had consecutive miscarriages, he said.
DES was not patented and was made by many companies.
The Melnick sisters said they all developed breast cancer in their 40s.
Neither Eli Lilly nor lawyers for the women would disclose the financial terms of the settlement, which was announced on the second day of testimony during a trial in Boston.
Eli Lilly said it continues to believe its medication "did not cause the conditions alleged in this lawsuit" but the settlement was in its "best interest."
"Settling this trial helps us get back to what we want to focus on as a company; developing important new medications through research and partnerships with doctors and patients," it said.
A total of 51 women, including the Melnick sisters, filed lawsuits in Boston against more than a dozen companies that made or marketed a synthetic estrogen known as DES.
DES, or diethylstilbestrol, was prescribed to millions of pregnant women over three decades to prevent miscarriages, premature births and other problems. It was taken off the market in the early 1970s after it was linked to a rare vaginal cancer in women whose mothers used it.
Studies later showed the drug did not prevent miscarriages.
Attorney Aaron Levine, representing the Melnick sisters, told the jury during opening statements that Eli Lilly failed to test the drug's effect on fetuses before promoting it as a way to prevent miscarriages.
Lawyer James Dillon, for Eli Lilly, told the jury there was no evidence the drug causes breast cancer in the daughters of women who took it.
Dillon also said that no medical records show the mother of the four Melnick sisters took DES or that, if she did take it, it was made by Eli Lilly. Leading researchers at the time recommended DES be used for pregnant women who had consecutive miscarriages, he said.
DES was not patented and was made by many companies.
The Melnick sisters said they all developed breast cancer in their 40s.
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