Settlement Looming in DES Lawsuit

Boston, MAThe judge in a DES lawsuit has ordered the defendants to negotiate a settlement with 53 women who filed a DES cancer lawsuit. The plaintiffs alleged that they were exposed to an increased risk of DES side effects, including breast cancer, even though they did not take the medication voluntarily. DES, diethylstilbestrol, was an anti-miscarriage drug used from the 1940s to 1970s until it was found to have serious side effects.

The judge in the DES lawsuit, US Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler, ordered 14 pharmaceutical companies involved in the lawsuit to enter into negotiations to settle the lawsuit. The lawsuit was brought by 53 women, who alleged they developed breast cancer because of their mothers' use of DES (also known as diethylstilbestrol, or Stilboestrol).

The judge made her decision after expert testimony supported claims that the plaintiffs' exposure to DES prior to birth increased the risk of breast cancer. Women who were exposed to DES prior to birth are often referred to collectively as "DES Daughters." They reportedly face an increased risk of breast cancer, reproductive problems and other serious health problems, even though they did not voluntarily take the medication.

According to information from the National Cancer Institute DES Follow-Up Study, women exposed to DES prior to birth are approximately twice as likely to develop breast cancer as women not exposed to the anti-miscarriage medication. Information reported by Time (10/6/11) indicates daughters exposed to DES before they were born had an increased risk of fertility problems, including premature delivery, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death. They also reportedly have an increased risk of clear cell adenocarcinoma (a rare vaginal and cervical cancer) and pre-cancerous cervical changes.

As many as 10 million women may have been exposed to DES, as mothers who took the drug to prevent miscarriage, as daughters of DES users, or even as granddaughters of the women who initially took the medication. The results of settlement discussions have not been announced and are possibly ongoing.

Some women may have suffered DES side effects without realizing they had been exposed to the medication. Others may not have realized the exposure to DES was linked to such serious side effects. Even though DES has not been used to prevent miscarriage in decades, some lawsuits are ongoing.