Hormone Replacement Therapies (HRT):

Another Pharmaceutical Fraud

 

In our opinion, one of the most troubling defective drugs currently on the market is Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), which includes the drug Prempro.  Millions of women throughout the country have taken HRT to treat the symptoms associated with menopause like hot flashes and night sweats.  However, several research studies indicate serious side effects associated with HRT's use.

 

In 2002, part of the Women's Health Initiative study was halted when it discovered that combined estrogen/progestin therapies increase the risk of breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.   The study found that the estrogen/progestin group had a 26% increase in breast cancer risk, a 29% increase in heart attacks, a 22% increase in total cardiovascular disease and a 41% increase in strokes.

 

Use of HRT fell sharply following the publication of these findings.  A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine this past April indicated that the age adjusted incidence of breast cancer fell by 6.7% from 2002 to 2003 amongst American women.  Additionally, when researchers compared incident rates in 2001 and 2004, they found an 8.6% decrease in the annual age adjusted incidence of breast cancer.   Researchers found, "The decrease in breast-cancer incidence seems to be temporally related to the first report of the Women's Health Initiative and the ensuing drop in the use of hormone-replacement therapy among postmenopausal women in the United States."   This study is compelling because following a decline in the use of HRT we also witnessed a sharp decline in the rate of breast cancer in American women, lending support to the initial findings of the Women's Health Initiative study.

 

Today women are still prescribed HRT, despite reliable research indicating significant adverse side effects associated with the drugs use.  This simply shouldn't be. Concerns regarding HRT are not the result of conjecture but stem from actual studies which indicate serious adverse side effects associated with HRT’s use. If this is the case, why have the manufacturers of HRT not recalled the drug?  It’s not good for business that's why!

 

If you or a loved one has taken Hormone Replacement Therapy, including the drug Prempro and suffered adverse side effects please contact the Law offices of Sybil Shainwald to set up a free consultation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sources:

1) National Institutes of Health NHBl Stops Trial of Estrogen Plus Progestin  Due to Increased Breast Cancer Risk, Lack of Overall Benefit (July 9,2002), at http:www.nhlbi.nih.gov/new/press/O2-07-09.htm (July 9,2002)

2) Id.

3) Peter M. Ravdin, et al., The Decrease in Bred-Cancer Incidence in 2003 in the United States, 356 New. Eng. J. Med. 1670 (2007).

4) Id.

5) Id.