Prempro

"They hope to try a few of these, which they call representative cases or bellwether cases," Weisbrod said.

"And that based on these cases the parties would be encouraged to settle." Settlements won't be mandatory, he said.

Rather, the cases would be handled in the states where they originated.

Another large group of cases - roughly 1,500 versus Little Rock's 3,500 - is being handled in Pennsylvania state court, Weisbrod said.

This week, U.S.

District Judge William R.

Wilson Jr.

set dates for the Little Rock trials.

The trial in the case of Arkansas resident Linda Reeves is set for July 31.

If that case doesn't go forward, Rush's trial will take place that day.

Otherwise, the Rush trial will start Oct.

10.

Drug manufacturer Pfizer is also a defendant in the case as the maker of the progestin product Provera, which doctors combined with Premarin, a Wyeth estrogen product, for hormone replacement therapy.

Later, Wyeth introduced The plaintiffs argue that the drugs are dangerous, basing their argument in part on the results of a 2002 study by the National Institutes of Health's Women's Health Initiative.

The study concluded that long-term u...

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