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The suit, originally filed in Miami-Dade in July 2002, was one of the first of about 20 around the country filed after release of a critical study of the drug by the Women's Health Initiative.

The lawsuit seeks court-supervised, company-paid medical monitoring, "without limitation or exhaustion," to detect and treat ailments linked to the medication.

The class action was certified in February by Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Lawrence Schwartz to represent the interests of Florida women between the ages of 50 and 79 who took the drug for at least six months.

The class is limited to women have not shown disease symptoms.

The suit also names as a defendant Eckerd Corp.

of Florida, at whose stores the drug was retailed.

The chain was sold to CVS Corp.

late last year.

Wyeth has filed a notice of appeal of Schwartz's decision to the 3rd District Court of Appeal.

Lawyers for Wyeth did not return calls seeking comment.

The notice does not indicate the grounds of the appeal.

Steven K.

Hunter, a partner at Hunter Williams & Lynch in Miami who is representing the class, said in an interview that "the class as a whole has an increased risk of serious health problems.

With the monitoring program, maybe they can avoid the entire problem." Wyeth spokesman Doug Petkus said the Women's Health Initiative investigators "have not recommended any special screening." Wyeth's local counsel, Ace Blackb...

Participants should represent a variety of ethnic groups and body sizes to determine the role of such factors in menopausal symptoms and treatment..“These are very expensive studies to undertake,” Mangione acknowledged.

“At the same time, this is a condition that affects a lot of women in the United States.”.Cynthia Pearson, executive director of the National Women’s Health Network, praised the push for more research.

“Women can make very good decisions about their own health if they have very good information on which to base those decisions,” she said..The full text of the panel’s draft statement is available online at consensus.nih.gov.

The final version of the statement will be available at the sa...