Report: Pfizer Settles 2,200 Prempro Cases for $330 Million

Is Pfizer taking a page from GlaxoSmithKline’s product liability playbook?

Glaxo, as we’ve noted several times, changed the established rules for pharma mass torts cases in the Avandia litigation, settling big batches of cases with individual plaintiffs lawyers rather than negotiating a global settlement matrix with a multidistrict litigation plaintiffs steering committee. Pfizer and its general counsel Amy Schulman are certainly familiar with the classic approach. But a Wednesday Bloomberg Law report suggests Pfizer isn’t averse to Glaxo-style tactics, either.

According to Bloomberg, Pfizer has agreed to pay $330 million to settle 2,200 suits filed by women who took Wyeth’s Prempro hormone replacement treatment. Citing two people familiar with the settlements, Bloomberg says four plaintiffs lawyers — Robert Schwartz of Bailey & Galyen; Texas solo James Morris Jr.; Stephen Corr of Mellon Webster & Shelly; and Stuart Calwell of the Calwell Practice — were among those whose Prempro dockets have been settled.

Bloomberg pegged the average settlement amount at $150,000. But Pfizer spokesman Chris Loder denied Bloomberg’s account, stating that the “reported settlement terms are not accurate and beyond that, we do not comment on our litigation strategy.” Plaintiffs lawyer Morris declined our request for comment; Schwartz declined comment to Bloomberg.

Prempro became the target of litigation after a 2002 study linked it and other hormone replacement drugs to breast cancer. Many Prempro cases are consolidated in an MDL overseen by Little Rock federal district court judge William Wilson, Jr., which as of Jan. 11 included about 7,600 pending suits, according to the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. At its height, the MDL had 9,672 cases, according to the panel.

Pfizer’s lead counsel in the Prempro MDL has been Williams & Connolly. The pharma company has fared pretty well in the litigation; though it has lost eight of the 15 Prempro cases that have gone to trial, according to Bloomberg, some of the verdicts have been tossed or reduced post-trial. About 3,000 cases have been dismissed.

In the recent settlement negotiations, Bloomberg reports, Pfizer turned to Sheila Birnbaum, the co-head of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s mass torts group. A spokeswoman for Skadden declined comment, and Pfizer counsel F. Lane Heard III of Williams & Connolly did not respond to our request for comment.

The timing of the settlement report is interesting: Bloomberg’s story came a day after the Pennsylvania Superior Court revived a $10.3 million award ($1.7 million in compensatory damages and $8.6 million in punitives) against Pfizer in a case brought by Mary Daniel, who was diagnosed with breast cancer 2001 after taking Prempro. Pfizer told our affiliate The Legal Intelligencer that it was “disappointed with the court’s ruling” and that it was “considering all our legal options.” In the Daniel case, Pfizer was represented by Michael Scott of Reed Smith; Daniel was represented by Mark Cuker and Esther Berezofsky of Williams Cuker Berezofsky.

Also See: Doctor Alleges Pfizer Violated Medical, Ethical Standards — Drug Giant Says Nothing New Here (from CC)