$12.2-Million Verdict Against Lilly in DES case : Litigation: The jury’s decision may prompt other drug makers to settle about 1,000 suits over the anti-miscarriage drug.

Companies could be spurred to settle about 1,000 suits over anti-miscarriage drug DES following a $12.2 million verdict this week against Eli Lilly & Co., the biggest ever stemming from the once popular medication, lawyers said Friday.

A New York state court jury Wednesday sided with Margaret Perrotte, whose cancer and infertility was linked to the fact her mother took diethylstilbestrol, known as DES. The drug was taken by millions of women from 1947 to 1971 to prevent miscarriages.

Not only was this the largest verdict in a DES case, it was also marked the first time a DES spouse was awarded damages. Perrotte’s husband Ed won $550,000 in addition to the $12.2 million awarded to his wife.

As the jury was about to reconvene Thursday to determine if punitive damages should also be awarded, the two sides settled the case. The court ruled that terms of the settlement were to be kept confidential.

“This sends a message to Lilly and other manufacturers that the hundreds of cases now pending should be settled,” said Aaron Levine, who heads a large group of personal injury lawyers who have pooled resources to handle DES cases.

“This shows that DES litigation is alive and well and that their (manufacturers’) defenses are as weak as they have always been,” said Levine, a Washington lawyer.

But Bette Peterson, a spokeswoman for Indianapolis-based Lilly, said the company disagreed with the verdict and maintains that it acted responsibly in the development and marketing of DES. She said Lilly will continue to “vigorously defend its position.”

She said the parties in the Perrotte case decided to settle to avoid the risks of further litigation. Lilly most likely would have waged a long legal battle by appealing the verdict.

Although a number of drug companies manufactured DES, Lilly had about 75 percent of the market. The drug, which has been linked to vaginal and other types of cancers in the daughters of women who took it, was taken off the market in the late 1970s.

Lawyers estimate there are about 1,000 DES cases pending nationwide, with Lilly named in 600 of them.

Levine said that about a dozen DES cases have gone to trial with plaintiffs winning half. He said the last big verdict was $1.2 million in 1986.

Lawyers believe that Lilly has also settled a large number of suits costing the company millions of dollars but specifics are unavailable because Lilly insists on confidentiality.

It has been hard for plaintiffs to win DES cases because there is a long period of time between the date when the mother took the drug and when the daughter discovered the injuries. It is also difficult to determine which drug company made the DES that the mother ingested.

Levine said that at first personal injury lawyers had been “outclassed” by Lilly’s litigation resources. But now that more than 40 plaintiffs lawyers have banded together to share evidence and witnesses, he predicted further successes.