Wyeth jury awards $99 mln punitive damages

RENO, Nevada (Reuters) - A Nevada jury on Monday awarded $99 million in punitive damages to three women who blamed their breast cancer on Wyeth hormone replacement drugs.

Judge Robert Perry, presiding over the case in the Washoe County District Court, slashed the compensatory damages to $35 million from $134.5 million on Friday, after the jury said the original sum included some punitive damages.

The new total is about the same as the original figure.

Wyeth, which said it would appeal, faces more than 5,000 lawsuits from those who believe they were harmed by hormone replacement treatments prescribed to women to ease symptoms of menopause. The drugs, Premarin and Prempro, remain available on the U.S. market.

The Reno case is the seventh to reach a verdict since trials began in the hormone therapy litigation last year.

Wyeth has claimed victory in the six previous cases, although one verdict against Wyeth was overturned and judgment entered in favor of Wyeth and two other plaintiffs' verdicts were thrown out and new trials ordered, the company said.

"Wyeth will appeal, beginning with post-trial motions to be filed within 10 court days. This verdict is an extreme aberration," Heidi Hubbard, a lawyer for Wyeth, said after the verdict.

Zoe Littlepage, attorney for plaintiffs Arlene Rowatt, Pamela Forrester and Jeraldine Scofield, said Judge Perry followed the law "at every turn."

"I think what the jury's told, most importantly, these three courageous women, is that their lives and their suffering have value," she told reporters.

In trials, Wyeth lawyers argued that the company told doctors and patients about the elevated breast cancer risks, included them on the drugs' labels and made no attempt to conceal them.

(Reporting by Wishelle Banks in Reno, writing by Peter Henderson in Los Angeles)