PORTLAND, Ore. -- Three local women blame the hormone replacement drug Prempro, which is made by Pfizer, for causing their breast cancers.
They say they're suing their doctors along with the drug company because they want physicians to stop prescribing Prempro and start recommending safer alternatives.
Named in the lawsuit which was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court are local doctors Miles Seeley, Douglas Eubanks, Harpreet Daisy Dhillon, Paula J. Spencer and Steven Lisook.
Each of the three local women are seeking several million dollars in the lawsuit.
Sharron Selman was diagnosed with breast cancer last May after taking Prempro and other hormone replacement drugs since 1991.
Prempro has a warning label which says it may increase the rate of breast cancer. Selman says the warnings worried her and that's why she asked her doctor about the risks on several occasions.
"The doctors, the drug company and the FDA all minimized the cancer risk," said Selman.
Mike Williams, the lawyer representing the women claims evidence shows that hormone replacement drugs like Prempro have caused more than 300,000 cases of breast cancer in the past 30 years.
"I'm not the only one saying this, we have top oncologists all over the country who know this is true and that safer alternative drugs are available," said Williams.
Pfizer, the company that makes Prempro did not return calls to KGW as of Thursday afternoon.
