A Bullock County woman filed a lawsuit June 3 against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals of New Jersey and Qualitest Pharmaceuticals of Alabama for allegedly causing her to develop breast cancer by falsely promoting hormone therapy medication.

Barbara Graham began taking the hormone therapy drugs Premarin, Prempro and Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (MPA) in the mid-1990s to treat menopausal symptoms.

Ted Meadows, Graham’s lawyer, said studies show a significant risk of developing breast cancer from taking the medications.

The FDA did not intend for these drugs to be marked for long term use,” Meadows said. “They were intended only for severe menopausal symptoms.”

Jere Beasley, a partner in Beasley Allen Attorneys at Law of Montgomery, said these drugs have life-threatening risks, like breast cancer, ovarian cancer, heart attacks, strokes and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Beasley said these pharmaceutical companies were aware of the risks, and promoted a dangerously high dosage and long-term usage without warning the customer of the significant risks associated with the prescription.

Melissa Prickett, another partner with Beasley Allen, said Graham began taking the medication in 1996 and stopped taking it in the summer of 2003, after learning she had developed breast cancer. Biopsies with hormone receptors showed the tumor was caused by the hormone therapy medication.

“Graham’s treatment included a lumpectomy to remove the tumor and seven weeks of radiation,” Prickett said.

Meadows said these medications were first used in the 1960s and 1970s, and there was no testing done then to look for the possibility of breast cancer. He added that in 2002, doctors began to realize the dangerous side effects of the hormone therapy medication.

Meadows said after this sales began to drop, and most doctors began prescribing them for severe symptoms and for short term use only. But many women were already suffering from the effects of the drugs.

While Wyeth and Qualitest knew the danger associated with the drugs, they continued to encourage their improper use in an effort to make a greater profit, Meadows said.

There have been other cases like this filed in Alabama, but they have all gone to the federal court system. This will be the first such case tried in Alabama, and Meadows said there will be many more.