Drug manufacturer Pfizer, court officials in Philadelphia confirmed Monday, has been ordered to pay a total $103-million in punitive damages to two women found to have breast cancer after using hormonal drugs.

The jury Monday reached a $28-million judgement in one of the cases, while a month-old $75-million judgment was unsealed by the judge in the other case. The punitive damages in the earlier case had been sealed to avoid prejudicing the second jury.

Pfizer intends to appeal both Philadelphia decisions, as in two similar cases it lost elsewhere in the USA.

Uncertainty surrounds the company’s potential financial liability due to lawsuits such as these, as 1,500 other product liability suits have been filed in the Philadelphia court over the hormone drugs, while a total of over 10,000 have been filed around the country, according to lawyers.

Pfizer has been held responsible as it acquired Pharmacia in 2003 and Wyeth in January, two companies responsible for marketing long-term hormone treatment drugs for menopausal women, which therapy emerging medical evidence indicates raises the women’s risk of breast cancer.

Wyeth manufactures Premarin that contains estrogen and Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin. Pharmacia makes Provera, a progestin hormone sometimes combined with estrogen.