U.S. Supreme Court lets $58 million award stand

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a $58 million award to three Nevada women who claimed they suffered breast cancer after taking menopause drugs.

The court rejected an appeal from drug maker Pfizer Inc., whose Wyeth Pharmaceuticals unit manufactured Premarin and Prempro medications.

More than 6 million women took hormone replacement drugs before a study in 2002 linked them to cancer.

The Nevada Supreme Court last November upheld an award to Arlene Rowatt, Jeraldine Scofield and Pamela Forrester, who separately had sued Wyeth in Washoe County District Court in 2004.

They were granted $134.6 million in 2007 after a jury trial, but the award later was reduced by court order. Forrester and Rowatt died after the trial "of causes unrelated to the litigation," their attorneys said.

The drug maker argued the case should be sent back for a new trial. Without commenting, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

The $58 million is the largest award to be upheld on appeal from the hormone replacement drug lawsuits.