Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has put aside $772 million to resolve claims that its menopause drug, Prempro, causes breast cancer.
According to a filling by Pfizer, the $772 million is "the minimum expected costs to resolve all of the other outstanding" lawsuits over the drugs.
A 2002 study had linked Prempro with breast cancer, and at the height of the litigation, BBC News reports that the company faced more than 10,000 claims.
Over six million women took Prempro and related menopause drugs for treatment of hot flashes and mood swings before the study came out.
“We are pleased to see Pfizer finally accept responsibility for the injuries this drug caused to women and hope the company will compensate each woman fairly and reasonably,” Zoe Littlepage, lead counsel for ex-Prempro users in the consolidated Arkansas cases, said in a phone interview to Bloomberg News.
Pfizer took over Wyeth in 2009 for $68 billion, which is the company that made Prempro.
Until 1995, many menopausal women combined estrogen-based Premarin, a Wyeth drug, with Pfizer's progestin-laden Provera, to relieve menopausal symptoms. Wyeth then combined the two hormones in its Prempro pill.
One third of the pending cases over Prempro have been resolved. The company has not said how many cases total will be settled.
Miller Taback analyst Les Funtleyder told Bloomberg that the settlement is probably a good thing for Pfizer stock.
"I see this as an effort to clean up a long-standing litigation so they can go forward with their business plan," he said.
