REPORT: Popular Menopause Drug May Cause Breast Cancer

menopause drugs cause breast cancerA new report produced by Prithwish De, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Toronto, suggests that Premarin and Premplus, two popular menopause drugs, could cause breast cancer.

According to the report, hormone replacement therapy was a risk factor in an estimated 12,000 new Canadian breast cancer cases discovered between 1994 and 2006. Since 2004, Health Canada has revised the product safety information on these drugs to further include side effects such as coronary heart disease, gynecological cancer and breast cancer.

Pfizer, who acquired Wyeth in 2009, has already paid $1.7 billion to settle thousands of claims in the United States. However, the company notes that they never made an admission of liability in the American settlements.

Wyeth Canada maintains that Premarin and Premplus do not cause breast cancer. However, in 2004, the first Canadian lawsuit against Wyeth Canada was filed by a woman who alleges she developed breast cancer after using Premarin in combination with progestin for eight years. Hundreds more women allege that they too have suffered after using these types of medications.

Des report was not the first to warn the public and drug manufacturers about cancer risks in menopausal drugs. In 1991, the U.S. National Institutes of Health studied 16,000 healthy post-menopausal women between 50 and 70 years of age. Half the women took combined hormone replacement therapy and another half took placebos. Although the study was stopped prematurely in 2002, researches believed there were more health risks than benefits among the groups of women who were using the hormone replacement therapy drugs.

If you or someone you love has suffered a serious personal injury while taking a prescribed medication, that individual may be eligible to receive compensation for damages they have sustained. The Windsor personal injury lawyers at Greg Monforton & Partners can help you determine what your legal rights are and if youre eligible to file a claim.

Call our firm at (866) 320-4770 or fill out the Free Case Evaluation form on this page to schedule a free review of your claim.