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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AFX) - Under cross-examination Friday in her suit against drug maker Wyeth, a breast cancer survivor admitted that she didn't read a package insert on the risks of hormone replacement therapy.
Linda Reeves, 67, of Benton was cross-examined in federal court by attorneys for Wyeth, the manufacturer of Prempro, which Reeves said caused her breast cancer. Her lawsuit is the first of about 4,500 cases involving Wyeth drugs Premarin or Prempro to go to trial.
Lyn Pruitt, an attorney for Wyeth, displayed patient information slips that were included with Reeves' Prempro prescription. Reeves acknowledged that she had not read the information.
"I guess the opportunity was there, but I just didn't read it," Reeves said.
The estrogen-progestin combination is used to treat menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats.
A government-sponsored trial of Prempro known as the Women's Health Initiative study found that women who took the drug had a higher risk of breast cancer, stroke and coronary heart disease.
Reeves said she did not remember her doctor mentioning a potential risk for breast cancer from the hormone replacement therapy. Friday morning, Reeves' voice trembled as she described the effects of the breast cancer that she was diagnosed with in 2000.
"It's a very scary situation to be in," she said. "First you think, 'Am I going to live through this?' You lose a part of your body, which for a woman is precious."
Reeves took Prempro for eight years. She said Friday that she saw a newspaper item in 2003 that mentioned Prempro's breast cancer risk and said she decided to contact an attorney after reading it.
"I guess a light bulb went off and I hadn't thought about that before," she said. "We thought we should talk to a lawyer about it. I just felt like it was something I needed to find out," she said.
Pruitt showed Reeves a label for Premarin that mentioned breast cancer as a risk of taking the drug.
"If you had read that label in 1991, would you have taken Premarin?" Pruitt asked.
Reeves replied, "If I had known these facts, I would not have taken them."
Reeves' lawyers say her breast cancer was a type that depended on hormones to grow and that Wyeth knew of the risks but didn't adequately tell doctors or patients. Wyeth says it issued warnings about the drug and wasn't liable for Reeves' breast cancer.
Zoe Littlepage, one of Reeves' attorneys, on Thursday displayed a series of photos on a projection screen as her client testified. The photos showed Reeves as a child, an adult and as a cancer victim -- bald but wearing a hat.
Reeves said she had a mastectomy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and also went through chemotherapy after lymph nodes were removed from an arm.
She showed pictures of her daughter, Lori, cutting her hair because of the hair loss Reeves suffered from the chemotherapy. Reeves said that after a while she shaved her head and decided to wear hats instead of a wig.
Reeves showed a picture of her husband, Ross, who she said shaved his head along with her.
"He didn't have a lot to lose, but it was a good gesture," she said. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
Copyright 2006 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
