It has been almost ten years since a US government study found that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) did not prevent heart disease and memory loss as advertised butรโรย increasedรโรย the risk of heart attacks by 29 percent and doubled the risk of dementia. Oops!
That was not all the bad news that emerged about HRT. It also increased the risk of breast cancer by 26 percent, stroke by 41 percent, doubled the risk of blood clots and increased the risk of hearing loss, gall bladder disease, urinary incontinence, asthma, the need for joint replacement, melanoma, ovarian, endometrial and lung cancers and non-Hodgkinรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs lymphoma, according to medical journals.
It was not exactly the fountain of youth it was billed as by hormone drug maker Wyeth (now Pfizer) in high-budget menopause awareness TV ads starring model Lauren Hutton.
In fact, HRT was such a scourge against women, in the first year that millions quit, 2003, the incidence of US breast cancer fell seven percent. It fellรโรย 15 percentรโรย among women whose tumors were fed by estrogen. Fourteen thousand women who were expected to get breast cancerรโรย didnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขtรโรย said news reports. And it wasnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt just breast cancer women were spared: heart attack and ovarian cancer ratesรโรย alsoรโรย fell when women quit HRT, said news reports.
The statistics must have been embarrassing to cancer researchers and public health officials. Not only was a major cause of breast cancer hidden in plain sight, the war on cancer should apparently have been a war onรโรย cancer-causing drugs!
It was even more embarrassing because the whole sequence happened before! In 1975, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel found a link between Premarin (a Wyeth HRT drug) and endometrial cancer and when women quit the drug by the millionsรยขรขโยฌโthe same thing happened. รยขรขโยฌร โThere was a sharp downward trend in the incidence of endometrial cancer that paralleled a substantial reduction in prescriptions for replacement estrogens,รยขรขโยฌรย reported theNew England Journal of Medicineรโรย (NEJM)รโรย in 1979.
Not wanting to lose its billion dollar HRT franchise, Wyethรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs medical director wrote doctors at the time that HRT still had รยขรขโยฌร โproven benefitsรยขรขโยฌรย at the รยขรขโยฌร โthe lowest maintenance doseรยขรขโยฌรย and that it was รยขรขโยฌร โsimplistic indeed to attribute an apparent increase in the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma solely to estrogen therapy.รยขรขโยฌรย
Thirty years later, when cancer rates again dropped, Wyeth also bit back. It announced the reason women werenรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt seeing prevention of heart disease and memory loss from HRT was theyรโรย werenรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt taking it soon enough.รโรย They needed to start treatment sooner. Ka-ching.รโรย The early treatment campaign was called the รยขรขโยฌร โtiming theory.รยขรขโยฌรย
Soon a National Institute on Aging trial and privately funded trials on รยขรขโยฌร โmenopausalรยขรขโยฌรย primates, both led by Wyeth-funded investigators, were underway at major medical centers. After all, before 2002, millions of American women, perhaps the majority, had been on HRT. Wasnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt there a way to get them back?
Last month the hormone revival campaign hit pay dirt. Women รยขรขโยฌร โwho took treatments such as Pfizer Inc.รยขรขโยฌรขโยขs estrogen pill Premarin within five years of menopause lowered their chance of Alzheimers by 30 percent,รยขรขโยฌรย wrote theWashington Postรโรย about a study in the journalรโรย Neurology.
รยขรขโยฌร โItรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs really important to distinguish between studies that are able to look at early use of hormone therapy versus later use,รยขรขโยฌรย said Pauline M. Maki, PhD on WebMD about the same study. Maki has received research support from Wyeth according to a July 2010 article in the journalรโรย Menopause. WebMD just imported a new CEO from Pfizer.
The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) not Big Pharma. But NIA is so collegial with hormone makers, it funded the North American Menopause Societyรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs entireรโรย 2009 annual meetingรโรย replete with Wyeth-funded doctor presenters and even Wyethรโรย employeeรโรย presenters. It also invited top Wyeth officials for a รยขรขโยฌร โWhere Are We Now?รยขรขโยฌรย meeting soon after its products were linked to cancer/heart disease/blood clots/stroke/dementia.
Even if HRTรโรย didรโรย lower Alzheimer riskรยขรขโยฌโwould it be ethical to prescribe it in light of its other risks or evenรโรย conduct trials?รโรย HRTรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs negative cognitive effects are so well known, a 2006 Reuters story began, รยขรขโยฌร โRegular exercise may prevent the mental decline associated with the long-term use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT).รยขรขโยฌรย And two studies in the January 13, 2009 issue ofNeurologyรโรย link HRT to brain shrinkage.
Hormone markers have also floated the idea that early HRT would prevent heart disease and/or cancer. But a 2011 analysis from the Million Women Study, sponsored by Englandรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs National Health Service, found women who took hormones the earliest, before or soon after the onset of menopause, were at theรโรย greatestรโรย risk of getting breast cancer.
Why does the government letรยขรขโยฌโand even helpรยขรขโยฌโBig Pharma market HRT like itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs a brand new product instead of the cause of two cancer epidemicsรยขรขโยฌโso far? Would anyone tell cigarette smokers to start smoking earlier?
Martha Rosenberg is a columnist/cartoonist who writes about public health. Her first book, titledรโรย Born with a Junk Food Deficiency: How Flaks, Quacks and Hacks Pimp the Public Health, has just been released by Prometheus Books. She can be reached at:[email protected].รโรย Read other articles by Martha.
