Yourlawyer.com (Premphase News) http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/premphase Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:10:38 -0800 pixel-app en Premarin, Prempro, Other Hormone Drugs Named in Nevada Lawsuit http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15546 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15546 Premarin, Prempro and Premphase.  This time, the state of Nevada is charging that Wyeth used deceptive practices in selling the drugs.  The Nevada attorney general has also targeted Pfizer, Inc.'s Provera.

The Nevada lawsuit charges that Wyeth and Pfizer misled consumers about the safety and effectiveness of the hormone therapy drugs.  The lawsuit claims that the deception  resulted in over-prescribing and a dramatic increase in hormone-positive breast cancers in post-menopausal women.

"When drug companies purposefully misrepresent the safety and efficacy of their drugs, or promote their drugs in a deceptive way, everybody loses," Attorney General Cortez Masto said in a statement. "We're confident we have the facts necessary to prove this case, and we hope this lawsuit and its outcome will deter improper drug company practices in Nevada."

Hormone therapy drugs like Premarin, Prempro, Premphase and Provera are used to treat the hot flashes and other symptoms that accompany menopause.  In 2002, a major study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) determined that Prempro, Premarin and similar drugs significantly increased the risk of stroke, blood clots, heart attacks and breast cancer. The study results were so alarming that the NIH canceled the study, citing risk to the study’s participants. The authors of the study suggested that many of the women who used the medications should quit and talk to their doctors about alternatives.

According to a press release issued by Masto's office, the attorney general's lawsuit was filed in conjunction with private law firms representing victims of Premarin, Prempro, Premphase and Provera.  Those firms have been litigating similar cases on behalf of individual Nevada women for over four years, resulting in numerous settlements and a 2007 verdict in Reno on behalf of three women with breast cancer, the release said.

]]> Hormone Replacement Therapy Even for Short Periods Raises Breast Cancer Risk http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/13693 Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/13693 breast cancer.  The study found women who took combined estrogen/progestin HRT for three years or more had four times the usual risk of lobular breast cancer.  The study, published in the January issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, is one of dozens of studies looking to clarify the dangers of taking HRT to treat menopause symptoms.  "Previous research indicated that five or more years of combined hormone-therapy use was necessary to increase overall breast-cancer risk," Dr. Christopher Li of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who led the study, said.  "Our study, the first specifically designed to evaluate the relationship between combined HRT and lobular breast cancers, suggests that a significantly shorter length of exposure to such hormones may confer an increased risk," he added.

According to the American Cancer Society, lobular breast cancer accounts for about 10 percent of all invasive breast cancers, the cancers that most threaten to spread to other parts of the body.  The cancer can be treated with hormone-based therapies such as tamoxifen, but the tumors are more difficult to detect by mammograms, so that the cancer is generally diagnosed in more advanced stages.

Li's team asked over 1,500 post-menopausal women in western Washington whether or not they had used HRT; 1,044 women had breast cancer and 469 did not.  The researchers found that women currently taking HRT were about three times as likely as other women to be among the cancer patients and those who used combined HRT for three or more years had a higher risk of lobular cancer.  They also said that the incidence of invasive lobular cancer rose by 52 percent in the United States between the years 1987 to 1999.  Also, cases of ductal-lobular breast cancer rose by 96 percent during and ductal cancer rates rose by three percent over the same time period.  "Our research suggests that the use of post-menopausal hormone-replacement therapy, specifically the use of combined estrogen-plus-progestin preparations, may be contributing to this increase," said Li.

Historically, doctors believed HRT could protect women from chronic diseases, especially heart disease.  But use of HRT plunged after the 2002 Women's Health Initiative study found that HRT could raise the risk not only of breast and ovarian cancer, but also of strokes and other serious conditions.  Research since also indicates that the incidence of breast cancer dropped by 8.6 percent between 2001 and 2004 in the United States, in conjunction with the decline in HRT use.  Today, doctors stress that younger women who need the drugs to relieve serious symptoms of menopause should still consider taking HRTs because new, lower-dose formulations are available and doctors now know to prescribe them for short periods of time.

"These findings are still of considerable public-health importance considering the estimated 57 million prescriptions for menopausal hormone therapy that continue to be filled in the United States," Li said.

]]> Hormones can raise breast cancer risk http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12775 Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12775
New U.S. government numbers showed that breast cancer rates leveled off in 2004 after plunging in 2003 the year after millions of women stopped taking hormones because a big study tied them to higher heart, stroke and breast cancer risks. Experts said the leveling off shows that the 2003 drop in the cancer rate was real and not a fluke.

From 2001 to 2004, breast cancer rates fell almost 9 percent a dramatic decline, researchers report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The trend was even stronger for the most common form of the disease tumors whose growth is fueled by hormones. Those rates fell almost 15 percent among women ages 50 to 69, the group most likely to have been on hormone pills.

At the same time, a study of nearly 1 million women in the United Kingdom showed that those who took hormones after menopause were 20 percent more likely to develop ovarian cancer or die from it than women who never took the pills. That study was published online by the London-based journal The Lancet.

For consumers, the new research doesn't change the advice to use the lowest dose for the shortest time possible for hot flashes and other menopause symptoms that can't otherwise be controlled.

For cautious scientists, the new breast cancer numbers were more evidence of the hormone-breast cancer link.

"The story has gotten stronger," said Dr. Peter Ravdin, a biostatistician at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston who led the research.

Some were skeptical several months ago when Ravdin and National Cancer Institute researchers first reported the 2003 drop in the breast cancer rate. The new numbers, which add 2004, prove this was no fluke, said Dr. Julie Gralow, a spokeswoman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology and cancer expert at the University of Washington in Seattle.

"Because it didn't bump back up again," it supports the idea that the rate has stabilized at a new lower level, said Gralow, who had no role in the study.

Brenda Edwards, one of the journal authors who is a National Cancer Institute researcher, agreed. "Now we have a statistically significant decline" over three years and clear proof of a trend, she said.

Although some recent analyses suggest heart risks from menopause hormones are not as great as had been believed for younger, newly menopausal women, the statistics out this week add to the worries about cancer.

After rising steadily through the 1990s, the breast cancer rate dipped from 2001 to 2002, from 138 cases to 135 cases per 100,000 women. After the federal Women's Health Initiative study reported in July 2002 on the health risks of hormones, use of the pills plunged.

So did the breast cancer rate the following year to 126 cases per 100,000 women. It was the steepest fall since the government started keeping records in the 1970s.

The drop was seen in all of the cancer statistics registries reviewed in the study, and no other cancer rate changed as dramatically strong signs that hormones were playing a role, specialists said.

The 2004 rate held steady at about 126 cases per 100,000.

Stopping hormone use may have stopped some cancers from growing and caused them to disappear, scientists speculate. Or it may have just slowed them down so that they won't appear until years later, said Ahmedin Jemal, an American Cancer Society researcher. Only time will tell which is true, he said.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which makes top-selling hormone pills Prempro and Premarin, criticized the study as overly speculative. Company spokesman Dr. Joseph Camardo said hormone prescriptions continued to fall in 2004 but breast cancer rates did not decline proportionately.

Ravdin said the company's criticism does not invalidate the cancer trends.

Breast cancer is the most common major cancer in American women and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women. About 180,000 new cases are expected to occur in the United States this year and more than 1 million worldwide.

Ovarian cancer is far less common. The British study found that even with the 20 percent greater risk from hormones, the actual risk was very low: 2.6 of every 1,000 hormone users developed ovarian cancer over five years compared to 2.2 in 1,000 non-hormone users.

Still, that means about 1,000 extra ovarian cancer deaths from 1991 through 2005, said study leaders at the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit in Oxford.

Hormone use has declined already, and the new report should cause it to fall further, Dr. Steven Narod of the University of Toronto wrote in an editorial accompanying the study in The Lancet.

"We hope that the number of women dying of ovarian cancer will decline as well," he wrote.

Camardo, Wyeth's spokesman, said hormone labels already warn about an elevated risk of ovarian cancer.
]]> US drop in breast cancer linked to reduced hormone use http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12776 Wed, 18 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12776
The research, based on data from the National Cancer Institute, shows that the breast cancer incidence rates in women in the United States fell 6.7 percent in 2003 from the previous year and have since stabilized.

The drop corresponds with a rapid decline in prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) at the time following headline-grabbing reports that post-menopausal women who were using HRT that included both estrogen and progestin showed increased risks of breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.

The number of prescriptions written for the two most commonly prescribed forms of HRT in the United States plunged from 61 million in 2001 to 21 million in 2004, the study's authors reported in the April 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

According to the research team led by Donald Berry of the University of Texas, the decline in breast cancer incidence began in mid-2002 and leveled off after 2003.

The researchers, comparing breast cancer rates from 2001 and 2004, found a decrease in annual incidence of 8.6 percent.

The decrease only occurred in women over 50 and were more pronounced in women with cancerous tumors that were dependent on estrogen to grow and multiply, they said.

Of other risk factors the researchers considered including rates of mammography screening and changes in diet HRT was the only risk factor that changed markedly from 2002 to 2003 "and provides a possible explanation for this trend," the National Cancer Institute said in a statement.

"The speed at which breast cancer rates declined after the Women's Health Iniatiative announcements may indicate that extremely small ER-positive breast cancers may have stopped progressing, or even regressed after HRT was stopped," the institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health, said.

The head of the institute, John Niederhuber, recalled that breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in the United States but all its causes remain unknown.

"Breast cancer rates had been increasing for two decades up to 2002. Finding the simple ways, such as limiting HRT use to decrease breast cancer risk, is a step forward," Niederhuber said in the statement.]]> Reduced Use of Prempro and Other Hormone Replacement Drugs Linked to Lower Breast Cancer Rates http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12384 Thu, 14 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12384
Medical researchers has exected about 200,000 cases of breast cancer in 2003; but only 14,000 were actually diagnosed with the disease. Because breast cancer takes years to form, experts think that withdrawing hormones mostly caused small tumors that had been growing to stop or shrink, making them no longer detectable on mammograms. Whether this is true or will result in fewer cases over the long run will take more time to tell.

Cases declined most among women 50 and older, with tumors whose growth is fueled by estrogen the age group and type of cancer most affected by hormone use. Researchers looked for a similar drop in other cancers, which could indicate something other than hormones was at work, “and we didn’t see anything,” said Kathy Cronin, a National Cancer Institute statistician who worked on the analysis.

Doctors estimate that half of women who were taking hormones stopped after July 2002, when the federal Women’s Health Initiative study was halted because more women taking estrogen/progestin pills developed breast cancer or heart problems.]]> Long-term estrogen users face increased breast cancer risk, study finds http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11669 Tue, 09 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11669
But the research, reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found no increased risk of breast cancer in women who had taken estrogen for less than 10 years.

"This says, at least for the shorter-term users, you don't need to panic," said Dr. Wendy Chen, an oncologist and epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who led the study. "But for the longer-term users, you need to think about why am I still taking estrogen for this long of time, and are there alternatives?"

Just last month, researchers in another long-term study, the Women's Health Initiative, published results of a seven-year study that found no increased risk of breast cancer in women who took the hormone, but there were other significant health risks, such as strokes and blood clots.

Estrogen-alone supplements are given only to women who have had their uteruses removed, because the hormone has been linked to an increased risk of uterine cancer. A woman with an intact uterus can take estrogen combined with progestin, another hormone that seems to prevent women from getting uterine cancer.

The latest study involved more than 28,000 women who were part of the Nurses' Health Study conducted by researchers at two Harvard-affiliated hospitals in Massachusetts.

For women who had been on estrogen for at least 15 years, the risk of hormone-responsive breast cancer the most common type in the United States climbed 48 percent. At 20 years, the risk of all types of breast cancer rose 42 percent.

Of the 934 invasive breast cancers that developed over the duration of the study, 708 were in women taking estrogen at the time, the study showed. Among the women who never used hormones, 226 developed breast cancer.

The risk of breast cancer also appeared to rise between 10 and 15 years of use, but the increase was not statistically significant, the researchers said.

"This is exactly what I would have expected," said Dr. Stefan Glück, clinical director of the Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute at the University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Look at smoking. After two years, there's no increase [in cancers]. You need many, many years [of exposure] to cause damage. Biology is a continuum, so starting 10, 15, 20 years is when you see an effect."

Before the Women's Health Initiative, doctors routinely prescribed hormone supplements at menopause. The prevailing theory was that estrogen or estrogen with progestin would prevent heart disease and other vagaries of aging. Instead, the study found an increased risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke, blood clots and other serious illnesses. More than 161,000 women participated, including 3,000 in South Florida.

Glück said the body of evidence on hormone replacement is sufficient for women and their doctors to make good choices.

"There are so many studies now, the picture is getting clearer," he said. He recommended that women whose menopausal symptoms are not severe not take any hormone supplements, and those with severe symptoms should take them for a short time and then taper off them gradually so the body has time to adjust.

"Women who are overweight or obese when they go through menopause or have a hysterectomy tend to suffer more hot flashes, night sweats, and other menopausal symptoms than thin women, he said.

"In Asia, in Japan, there is not even a word for menopause," Glück said. "Maybe it's the healthier diet, lifestyle, the green tea. We don't know."

Lifestyle changes can help to ease some of the symptoms of American women, he said.

"Go to the beach and swim, golf more, go to the gym, eat healthier food. These are all things that help, but occasionally they are not enough," Glück said. "If a woman really suffers so much, [she can take] these drugs for awhile, then taper them off."
]]> Long-term estrogen use raises risk, study finds http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11670 Tue, 09 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11670
Researchers said the findings should be reassuring for women who want to use estrogen for a short time to relieve menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness.

Hormone supplements were once thought to help postmenopausal women postpone age-related ills. But the government's Women's Health Initiative study in 2002 contradicted those beliefs for estrogen-progestin supplements, finding an increased risk of breast cancer, strokes and heart attacks. That led millions of American women to stop taking supplements.

Later, a WHI study of estrogen alone -- an option only for women who have had a hysterectomy -- linked the supplements to strokes and memory problems. But it found that using estrogen alone for seven years does not raise the risk of breast cancer.

The new findings came from the less-rigorous but longer-running Nurses' Health Study, overseen by Harvard-affiliated researchers.

It found no increased risk of breast cancer in women who had taken estrogen for less than 10 years. But for women who had been on estrogen for at least 15 years, the risk of hormonally driven breast cancer (the most common type in the United States) climbed 48 percent. At the 20-year mark, the risk of any type of breast cancer rose 42 percent.

"This says at least for the shorter-term users, you don't need to panic" about breast cancer, said lead author Dr. Wendy Chen, an oncologist and epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.]]> Study Links Estrogen, Breast Cancer Risk http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11667 Mon, 08 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11667
Researchers said the findings should be reassuring for women who want to use estrogen for a short time to relieve menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness.

Hormone supplements were once thought to help postmenopausal women postpone age-related ills. But the government's Women's Health Initiative study in 2002 contradicted those beliefs for estrogen-progestin supplements, finding an increased risk of breast cancer, strokes and heart attacks. That led millions of American women to stop taking supplements.

Later, a WHI study of estrogen alone an option only for women who have had a hysterectomy linked the supplements to strokes and memory problems. But it found that using estrogen alone for seven years does not raise the risk of breast cancer.

The new findings came from the less-rigorous but longer-running Nurses' Health Study, overseen by Harvard-affiliated researchers.

It found no increased risk of breast cancer in women who had taken estrogen for less than 10 years. But for women who had been on estrogen for at least 15 years, the risk of hormonally driven breast cancer (the most common type in the United States) climbed 48 percent. At the 20-year mark, the risk of any type of breast cancer rose 42 percent.

"This says at least for the shorter-term users, you don't need to panic" about breast cancer, said lead author Dr. Wendy Chen, an oncologist and epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "But for the longer-term users, you need to think about why am I still taking estrogen for this long of time, and are there are alternatives I could take instead?"

The risk of breast cancer also appeared to rise between 10 and 15 years of use, but the increase was not statistically significant, the researchers said.

The study, published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, involved 28,835 women who were postmenopausal, had had a hysterectomy and reported their estrogen use every two years. Just 3.2 percent of the women, or 934, developed breast cancer during the study.

The researchers said it is unclear how many American women are taking estrogen for 15 or 20 years, especially in light of the WHI findings and doctors' recommendation since then that women who want to use the pills take them for the shortest possible duration.

Dr. Carolyn D. Runowicz, president of the American Cancer Society, said a few women in her practice have chosen to remain on estrogen for a long time because they feel the improvement in their quality of life outweighs the risks.

Runowicz called the study reassuring for short-term estrogen use but also said it underscores the need for patients to regularly "justify every medication" they take with their doctors.

"Is it estrogen forever? That's what we thought in the 1970s," said Runowicz, director of the Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center, "but we've completely reversed our thinking on that."

Estrogen-alone supplements are given only to women who have had their uteruses removed, because the hormone can spur uterine cancer. Other women get estrogen plus progestin, to counteract the risk of uterine cancer.

The Women's Health Initiative was a clinical trial in which women were randomly assigned estrogen pills or placebos. Scientists consider that approach the gold standard. The new study relied on nurses who reported on their own health every two years.

Runowicz said nurses could differ somewhat from women in the general population perhaps they are healthier, for instance but she said she had no reason to doubt the validity of the data, especially because its conclusions regarding short-term estrogen use are backed up the WHI findings.

Wyeth, which produces the estrogen pill Premarin, considers the Nurse's Health Study a well-respected study and the most recent research a "fairly reasonable trial," said Dr. James Pickar, assistant vice president for clinical research and development.

Pickar said he sees the results as good news for women because they back up the WHI findings that found no increased breast cancer risk for short-term estrogen users.

"I think it's very important for women to talk to their physician and review on a regular basis whether they need to continue therapy," Pickar said. "Each patient has an individual risk profile that only they and their physician can evaluate."]]> Study Finds Elevated Risk of Urinary Incontinence in Women on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10917 Wed, 09 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10917
Currently over 40% of postmenopausal women are afflicted with urinary incontinence. Urinary incontinence includes both stress incontinence, when the bladder leaks urine as a result of pressure on it from exercise, laughing, or coughing and urge incontinence, where there is a frequent urge to urinate.

The study conducted by Dr. Jody Steinauer and her colleagues from the University of California at San Francisco relied on data from a Heart Estrogen/progestin Replacement Study to evaluate the side-effect of urinary incontinence.

The 4-year observational study followed 1,200 women who reported no episodes of incontinence in the week prior to starting HRT or a placebo.

Results showed 64% of women using HRT reported weekly incontinence compared with 49% of those taking a placebo. The symptoms began at 4 months and continued for the duration of the hormone therapy, regardless of age.

HRT was found to elevate the risk of both urge and stress incontinence by 50% and 70%, respectively. The excess risks of weekly urge and stress incontinence attributed to HRT were 12% and 16%, respectively.

According to researchers, these findings contrasted with physiologic data which indicated HRT might have a beneficial impact on incontinence.  The results did, however, confirm previous randomized trials that found postmenopausal women taking HRT might develop urinary incontinence or experience exacerbated symptoms if they already had the condition.
]]> Study Claims Alcohol Raises Breast Cancer Risk in Women on HRT http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10887 Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10887
Results of the study, which was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, indicate an elevated risk for estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, the most common kind, but not for the less frequent estrogen receptor negative type.

The study was conducted by Professor Alicja Wolk and her colleagues and reviewed records on alcohol consumption collected from 1987 to 1990 and in 1997. The data was taken from 51,847 postmenopausal women. By the middle of 2004, 1,188 breast cancer cases were reported.

According to Wolk, the findings indicate a combination of HRT and alcohol increases breast cancer risk. She advised that "for those women who have to take hormones, what they can do is avoid alcohol so it will not have a multiplier effect on the risk for cancer."

Increasingly, women have become wary about HRT after reports in 2002 and earlier this year that claimed it could have serious negative side effects including elevated risk of heart attack, stroke, and breast cancer.
Currently, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide with more than a million cases diagnosed - and 400,000 deaths - each year.

Many factors beside alcohol and HRT can contribute to increased risk. Women with a family history of breast cancer, an early puberty, late menopause, obesity, and not having children may also be at increased risk of developing breast cancer.
]]> Cancer Risk of HRT 'Known For Years' http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10478 Wed, 10 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10478
In the last few years a number of major studies have linked HRT used to combat menopausal symptoms to an increased risk of breast cancer and also stroke.

The revelations led many women to abandon treatment due to fears they faced a much greater risk of cancer.

Now researchers from the US have questioned why the results of the recent studies have been seen as so shocking when the potential dangers of hormone treatments have been known about for decades.

Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, they outlined the results of a meeting of historians, doctors, biologists and women's health advocates to discuss the recent reaction to the HRT studies.

Controversy about the use of hormones in medicinal treatments has existed since the 1930s.

Back then scientists carried out animal experiments which provided evidence that sex hormones could be carcinogenic causing cancer.

"For clinicians, these studies translated to debates about the correct dose to be given, as hormones were viewed as 'natural' and thus not intrinsically harmful," the team from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston said.

Further controversy arose in the 1960s and 1970s, triggered by new fears about oral contraceptives, oestrogen only HRT and the risk of endometrial cancer.

New concerns are currently being discussed about the cancer-causing potential of HRT, and disputes over whether it does or does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The researchers said the conventional wisdom was that the latest concerns were new concerns, only recognised in the last few years with the publication of major trials.

They said the question that needed to be answered was: "Why, for four decades, since the mid-1960s, were millions of women prescribed powerful pharmacological agents already shown, three decades earlier, to be carcinogenic?"

Industry 'collusion'

The researchers questioned why repeated warnings were ignored and not translated into health policies to protect women.

They suggested that the pharmaceutical industry, doctors and researchers "colluded" to promote the view that the menopause was a "deficiency disease" and women needed long-term HRT to "prevent illness, loss of sexuality and ugly ageing".

The researchers said: "Use of drugs shifted from being 'curative' to being a tool of 'risk management', requiring long-term administration to an ever-expanding - and hence profitable - market of ageing users."

They also said that other factors that played a part in the problem included the failure of regulatory agencies to act and too much focus on individual risk rather than broader societal issues.

The researchers claimed that hormones had been "gendered" with treatment targeted at women and their reproductive capacity - in a bid to regulate their sexually.

In contrast, men had been ignored in creating these treatments. Last week research in the British Medical Journal suggested that a woman's risk of developing breast cancer while on HRT may be lower than people think.

The Australian researchers said that many women may have stopped taking HRT unnecessarily.

Hazel Nunn, cancer information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "HRT remains an effective treatment for menopausal symptoms and may also lessen the risk of osteoporosis.

"Taking HRT slightly increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer while she is taking it, but risk returns to normal around five years after she stops.

"Cancer Research UK feels it is important for women to be aware of the risks of taking HRT and should discuss their individual circumstances with their doctor so that they can make an informed decision.

"We also recommend that women take HRT for only as long as it is necessary to combat their symptoms."]]> U.N. Classifies Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) as Carcinogenic http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10343 Sat, 30 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10343
After years of research, analysis, and debate, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the U.N.’s cancer research agency, has reclassified HRT from “possibly carcinogenic” to “carcinogenic.”

The panel of 21 scientists concluded that the evidence from several recent studies was consistent and reliable enough to link HRT to breast cancer thereby fully justifying the reclassification. The normal risk of a woman (not on HRT) developing breast cancer is slightly more than 14%. Long-term use of HRT raises that risk to almost 17%.

The panel also concluded that HRT slightly increases the risk of endometrial cancer when progestin is taken fewer than 10 times per month.

While most experts agree with these conclusions and see no real departure from what was already generally accepted with respect to HRT, the panels finding that a common form of birth control pill was linked to a slightly increased risk of certain cancers was met with skepticism by many doctors.  

HRT has been a long-standing and widely accepted treatment for women experiencing some of the more uncomfortable effects of menopause. In the past few years, however, this popular therapy has come under fire as a result of evidence linking HRT to many serious health risks.

A number of studies suggest that women undergoing HRT are exposing themselves to long-term harm that far outweighs the severity of the symptoms being treated.

For some women, HRT might consist of an estrogen-only treatment while others are given a combination of estrogen and progestin. This latter option is slightly less common but is still a popular solution to menopausal discomfort. Both types of HRT are used by an estimated 13.5 million women in the United States alone.

HRT has been around since the early 1940s when women began taking high doses of estrogen to counteract many of the temporary, but recurring, discomforts of menopause. In the 1970s, however, it was discovered that this particular form of estrogen therapy created an unacceptably high risk of uterine cancer. This prompted the trend by doctors to prescribe progestin along with significantly lower doses of estrogen.

Recent studies now show that there are too many health risks associated with HRT to justify its being used automatically as a “cookie cutter” treatment of choice or as if it were a woman’s only available option.
Women should consult their physicians to discover whether HRT would be a benefit or a detriment given their own particular circumstances. While HRT undoubtedly alleviates a number of menopausal symptoms in many women, for some, the cost of that immediate relief may include unwanted long-term effects.

Prempro and Premarin:

Prempro and Premarin are the two major HRT drugs. Both are manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Prempro is a combination estrogen-progestin treatment and Premarin is an estrogen-only treatment. There are approximately 6 million women taking Prempro and 11 million women taking Premarin. In 2003, the two drugs had combined sales of $2.1 billion.

Although Premarin, the first HRT drug, was introduced in 1942 for the purpose of alleviating symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness, a study in the Journal of American Medical Association (“JAMA”) has linked it to ovarian cancer.

Prempro, on the other hand, has been linked to various serious side effects including dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, blood clots, pulmonary embolisms, lupus, heart attack, and breast cancer.

Women taking Prempro have a 29% higher risk of heart attack, a 41% higher risk of stroke, and a 26% higher risk of breast cancer. Those figures alone should prompt women to consult their physicians regarding alternative treatments or methods of treatment. This is especially so for women who experience only minor symptoms of menopause such as vaginal dryness for which respond to alternative treatments such as creams and vitamin E.

The most important thing stressed by researchers and medical professionals alike is that Prempro, Premarin and other HRT drugs should be taken in the smallest dosages (that produce effective results) for the shortest duration as possible.
In addition, women who are only experiencing minor symptoms of menopause might want to forego HRT therapy altogether.
Finally, even women seeking relief from more severe symptoms should do their own benefit/risk analysis by asking questions, reading available reports, and keeping in mind the potential risks associated with HRT.
Harmful Effects of HRT:

As Prempro and Premarin are the two major existing HRT drugs, the following information is primarily related to the usage of one or the other. However, other drugs and treatments may have the same harmful effects.

Dementia:

HRT medications can double the risk of vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, especially in women over 65. Short rather than long-term use is recommended in order to avoid this unwanted side-effect.

This information was first made public in an issue of the Journal of American Medicine released in May of 2003. The Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study, which was funded by Wyeth, analyzed data from about 4,500 women, aged 65, who had not been diagnosed with dementia before the study.

During the five-year study, each woman took Prempro daily. The results found that of the 61 women who developed dementia, 40 (66%) had been given the hormones while only 21 (34%) had taken the placebo.

Another study published at the same time revealed that, in addition to the increased risk of dementia, HRT may have harmful effects on the general cognitive function of older women leading to mild memory loss amongst other things.

While these increased risks are numerically small, they do represent a significant increase in the percentage involved. (Obviously, 19 additional cases of dementia in 4,500 participants [40 to 19] is a small “number” but it does represent almost a 50% differential [66% to 34%]).

Thus, this particular increased risk should be taken seriously and a physician should be consulted by any woman planning to begin HRT or already undergoing HRT and experiencing any symptom of this side-effect.

Heart Attack:

Combination therapy consisting of estrogen and progestin, such as Prempro, has now been linked to an increased heart attack risk of up to 81% in the first year of treatment.

One possibility for this newly discovered heart attack risk is that HRT might cause more rapid clotting and therefore, a woman with one or more narrowed blood vessels would be at risk if there was a sudden clotting of the blood in those constricted areas.

While it was previously believed that combination estrogen-progestin drugs could actually prevent heart attack, a recent study found that hormones do not slow the clogging of arteries. In fact, all women who take hormones appear to be at a higher risk for heart attack.

The Women’s Health Initiative (“WHI”), a federally sponsored organization, conducted a study to determine the risks associated with HRT. (The study was actually abruptly aborted in 2002 as too many women were being put in harm’s way and experiencing a variety of severe side-effects such as heart disease, stroke, blood clots, and breast cancer.)

Of the 16,608 women who participated in the study, there were 190 incidents of heart attack and 39 fatalities among the group given Prempro. The placebo group had 148 heart attacks and 34 fatalities.

Again, the numerical increase in the risk does not seem so great. However, the overall percentage increase in the heart attack risk is about 30% which is significant enough to be taken into account when making the decision about HRT.

Many experts believe the discovery of this increased heart attack risk should prompt doctors to be more careful about whom they are placing on HRT therapy. Healthy, middle-aged women are the ideal candidates for drugs like Prempro as they are not usually at an increased risk for heart attack before beginning treatment.

Women who are already at greater risk, including those with high cholesterol or those with a personal or family history of cardiac problems are not good candidates for HRT. It should be remembered, however, that the increased risk applies to all women.

Breast Cancer:

Estrogen-progestin pills such as Prempro are now being linked to an aggressive form of breast cancer. The WHI study was responsible for discovering crucial information regarding this dangerous risk.

Of the 16,608 women in the study ranging from ages 50-79, breast cancer developed in 245 women who used estrogen-progestin pills and 185 women in the placebo group.

Collectively, the women on hormones had larger tumors which began to spread to nearby tissue and distant parts of the body in about 25% of hormone users with cancer as opposed to only 16% of the women with cancer in the placebo group. Tumors may also grow at a faster rate in women taking hormones.

A similar longitudinal study conducted in Britain concluded that women who were receiving HRT had a greater risk of developing breast cancer in comparison to women not receiving therapy. The study involved 1 million women between the ages of 50 and 64.

Those who took the hormones demonstrated a 66% greater risk of developing breast cancer and a 22% greater risk of dying from it within 6 years. Women who took estrogen alone had only a 30% increased risk of developing breast cancer leading some experts to conclude that the original (estrogen only) option is a safer one despite the fact that it, too, has been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer.

The researchers determined that, over a decade, HRT would be responsible for 10,000 extra cases of breast cancer in England and an extra 100,000 cases in the United States among menopausal women ages 50-64.

Yet another study conducted in Sweden concluded that women who were receiving HRT were more prone to new and recurring cancer. This study was also stopped due to the unacceptably dangerous risks posed to the 345 women participating in the study.

Perhaps the most dangerous risk regarding HRT and breast cancer is the newfound risk of inaccurate and abnormal mammograms.

Out of the estimated 3 million women on HRT in the United States, about 120,000, or 4%, could experience abnormal mammograms related to the HRT.

Combined HRT, such as Prempro, causes the breast tissue to increase in density thereby making it more difficult to obtain a clear and accurate mammogram. In cases where there is a delay in detecting the cancer treatment, options are more limited and the prognosis is less favorable.

In an editorial from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, Peter H. Gann and Monica Morrow summed up this disturbing finding by stating: “The ability of combined hormone therapy to decrease mammographic sensitivity creates an almost unique situation in which an agent increases the risk of developing a disease while simultaneously delaying its detection.”

Note: Ovarian and uterine cancers have also been linked to HRT even though it was previously thought that hormones would help to prevent the onset of such cancers.

Herbal Remedies:

Some women who are skeptical of the pharmaceutical solutions to menopausal symptoms have sought alternate treatments such as herbal remedies. But some herbal hormonal treatments may also increase the risk of breast and uterine cancer for women, especially those with a history or a family history of these cancers.

Herbs such as clover, motherwort, palmetto, and rhodiola can actually have such a powerful estrogenic effect that, just like other HRT treatments, they can cause estrogen-related cancers. Extracts of maca root, cramp bark, and tumeric root can also be harmful if taken in large amounts.

Warnings and Labels:

Due to the mounting evidence suggesting that HRT is not the best option for menopausal women, the FDA and other health advisory groups have issued several warnings and label requirements in order to keep the public informed about the recent developments relating to Prempro, Premarin, and any other estrogen or estrogen-progestin drugs.

In response to the results of various studies, there has been a significant decrease in the number of women taking and asking for conventional HRT treatments.

•    1/09/03: The FDA approved new labels for Wyeth which included an updated warning that explains the increased risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and breast cancer. The new label emphasizes that the drugs do not prevent heart disease. In addition, doctors were advised to prescribe the lowest dose possible for the shortest amount of time. The FDA’s actions also apply to any product containing estrogen alone or a combination of estrogen-progestin.

•    2/03/03: The head of the American Cancer Society released a statement to the effect that it is “unwise” for women with a history of breast cancer to undergo HRT.

•    1/09/04: The Canadian Cancer Society urged women to avoid estrogen-progestin therapy since it causes an increased risk of breast cancer, especially when used over an extended period of time. They advised women not to take the drug(s) unless they are suffering severe menopausal symptoms and have not responded to any other form of treatment.

•    2/10/04: The FDA proposed that manufacturers of hormone replacement drugs change their warning labels once again to include warnings for dementia and abnormal mammograms. The new labels should also list the approved usages of the drugs and instruct doctors to pursue alternatives with their patients.

•    The number of Australian women using HRT declined rapidly after new information regarding health risks was made public.

•    A 71 year-old woman, along with 15 other women, from Houston, Texas, sued Wyeth claiming that Premarin caused her to develop breast cancer. The suit alleges that, despite the fact that Wyeth knew, or should have known, that Premarin was responsible for the development of estrogen-related cancers; it continues to market the product as a “fountain-of-youth” drug.

•    Ten Ohio women filed a lawsuit in May 2004 against several major pharmaceutical companies three with offices in Cincinnati saying the hormone therapy drugs manufactured by the companies caused their breast cancer and, in one case, a debilitating stroke.

•    July 29, 2005: U.N. cancer agency reclassifies HRT as a carcinogen.

 Conclusion:

In the past few years there has been extensive evidence to suggest that HRT is not the safest option for women over 50 experiencing unpleasant menopausal symptoms. Studies have shown that there are undeniable health risks for women who take estrogen or a combination estrogen-progestin drug on either a short or long-term basis.

Some doctors, however, argue that there is still not enough persuasive evidence from which to conclude what negative effects are linked to short-term use. Nonetheless, there is ample proof to strongly suggest that HRT is a risky treatment for the woes of menopause and that its use should be carefully considered on a case by case basis.

Those women already on HRT should carefully monitor their health and be on the lookout for any possible condition which may be associated with the drugs they are taking. In either situation, women should discuss the pros and cons of HRT with a qualified doctor especially in light of complicating health factors, personal and family medical history, and dosage size and treatment duration.

Presently, there are not many alternatives to HRT with respect to the more severe symptoms of menopause.

In February, 2004, the FDA approved a product manufactured by Solvay Pharmaceuticals called EstroGel. EstroGel is an estrogen gel which is absorbed through the skin of the arm. There are now a few other similar alternatives such as hormones in the form of lotions and skin patches.

Although the FDA has approved these products, it is not certain if these alternatives are any safer than pills.

Perhaps the revelation which most convincingly demonstrates the serious nature of the risks associated with HRT is the early termination of the studies discussed above.

It is a sobering thought indeed that studies to determine the dangers associated with a drug were stopped in mid-course because of the extreme risks posed to the participants in the study itself.

Despite controversial evidence and mounting concerns, HRT is still being used by millions of menopausal women worldwide. The drugs have not been taken off the market and may still be legally prescribed to any woman seeking relief from problems associated with menopause.

Even the U.N. cancer agency said that women should not automatically stop using HRT; a conclusion agreed with by many experts and practicing gynecologists.
]]> HRT Cancer Causing, Says WHO Body http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10349 Wed, 29 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10349
The combined menopause therapy was previously said to be "possibly" cancer causing, but the agency said women should not automatically stop using it.

The scientists also warned the combined contraceptive pill slightly increased the risk of a greater number of cancers than originally thought.

UK experts said the HRT findings did not add anything to what is known.

A group of 21 scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer reviewed published evidence on both drugs before coming to their conclusions.

On combined estrogen-progestogen HRT, they said studies had demonstrated an increased risk of breast cancer. The risk exceeded with duration of use.

And they said use of the combined estrogen-progestogen contraceptive pill slightly increased the risk of breast, cervix and liver cancer. Past studies have already linked the pill to liver cancer, but only in hepatitis B-endemic countries.

But the scientists said it decreased the risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer.

'Complicated'

Agency official Vincent Cogliano said: "It's a complicated picture. It doesn't mean women should stop taking the treatment. There are still other reasons to take it.

"Each woman has to discuss it with her doctor and with the risks and benefits."

Dr Anne Szarewski, clinical consultant for Cancer Research UK, said: "We are unaware of any studies that have shown that the contraceptive pill causes breast or cervical cancer.

"Studies have only shown that there is an association.

"Regarding HRT, this statement does not add anything to the information that has already been published in recent studies."

UK drugs regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said the warnings added nothing to what was already known. 
]]> Hormone Pills Put On Cancerous List http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10366 Sun, 29 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10366
The International Agency for Research on Cancer said that based on consistent evidence from studies in recent years, it was reclassifying hormonal menopause therapy from "possibly carcinogenic" to "carcinogenic."

The declaration from the World Health Organization's cancer agency, which is widely regarded as the international authority on cancer-causing agents, comes after several recent high-profile studies linking combination hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, to breast cancer.

The analysis, conducted by a panel of 21 scientists, concluded that estrogen and progestin therapy for menopause also slightly increases the risk of endometrial cancer when progestin is taken fewer than 10 days a month.

Research has indicated that the chance of a woman developing breast cancer during her lifetime is about 1 in 7. A landmark study used in the U.N. agency's analysis suggested that long-term use of hormones raises the lifetime risk to about 1 in 6.

The cancer research agency also concluded that a common type of birth-control pill, taken by about 10 percent of women of reproductive age, increases the risk of more types of cancer than previously thought.

Some doctors cautioned that the conclusion was based on studies of higher-dosage pills and said they wouldn't change their advice to young women.

The agency had previously determined that the pill combining estrogen and progestin can cause liver cancer.

Now, further research has demonstrated that it also slightly increases the risk of breast and cervical cancer, the agency said.

However, the investigation also confirmed that the pill protects against endometrial and ovarian cancers.

"It's a complicated picture," said Vincent Cogliano, head of the agency's department that evaluates the cancer risk of chemicals.

"There are still other reasons to take it. Each woman has to discuss it with her doctor and weigh the risks and benefits" for either the contraceptive pill or hormone replacement therapy."
]]> HRT Increases Recurrence of Breast Cancer http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7563 Mon, 09 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7563
Swedish researchers embarked on the study in part because more women are surviving the disease and therefore subject to the same menopausal symptoms as other women. The study was expected to involve around 1,300 women over five years. After the initial 345 women in the study were followed for about two years, however, results showed 26 of those randomized to receive HRT experienced a new or recurring cancer, compared to just seven in a placebo group. The risk was deemed unacceptable, and the study was halted on December 17, 2003.

Noting some doctors prescribe HRT for their breast cancer patients with severe menopausal symptoms because observational studies have suggested no harm from the treatment, Harmon J. Eyre, M.D., chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, comments, "This study will no doubt change that. It is large enough and clear enough to show that HRT appears to increase the chance of a new or recurring breast cancer. Because of that, offering HRT to women with a history of breast cancer would be unwise."

In an accompanying commentary to the study, Rowan T. Chlebowski, from Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute in Torrance, Calif., and Nananda Col, from Brigham and Women's Health Hospital in Boston, Mass., agree, noting, "Alternative safe and effective strategies for the difficult problem of menopausal symptoms in these women now need to be developed."]]> Women Warned To Avoid Hormone Therapy http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7400 Fri, 09 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7400
Women with a personal or family history of breast cancer should be particularly leery, according to the new recommendations.

"Current research shows the risks of combined HRT including the increased risk of breast cancer outweigh the benefits," Heather Logan, the society's director of cancer control policy, said.

The recommendations draw renewed attention to a bombshell study published in July, 2002, showing that the combination of estrogen and progestin, the standard treatment for menopausal symptoms for decades, is fraught with health risks. In addition to hiking a women's breast-cancer risk, HRT increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, blood clots in the lungs and dementia. However, the drugs reduce the risk of hip fractures and colorectal cancer and can be effective in treating some symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes.

Mrs. Logan stressed that the Cancer Society was not giving medical advice and that every woman should make an individual decision after consulting with her physician.

New research, however, shows that women are abandoning HRT in droves.In the United States, prescriptions for HRT have plummeted by almost 40 per cent since July, 2002, according to a study in this week's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

There are no comparable Canadian figures, but a small poll conducted one year ago by Pollara revealed that 44 per cent of women using HRT had stopped taking the drugs and another 32 per cent said they would discontinue HRT in the future. According to Statistics Canada, about 1.2 million women took HRT in 2001.

U.S. researchers estimate that prescriptions for hormone treatments will total about 57 million for 2003, down from 91 million in 2001.

Deborah Grady, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, said three in four women suffered virtually no symptoms when they stopped HRT. Most physicians recommend tapering off the pills over a period of six to 12 months rather than going cold turkey.

The researcher noted that postmenopausal women looking for alternatives to HRT are increasingly turning to low doses of antidepressants such a Prozac. Some drugs used to treat insomnia and high blood pressure have also proved effective for menopausal symptoms. The herb black cohosh is also a popular alternative.

In an effort to help women understand the risks associated with taking combination hormone-replacement therapy, the Canadian Cancer Society published a chart comparing the theoretical rates among two groups of 10,000 women, one of which takes HRT, and the other, which does not. The analysis shows that, each year: eight more women will develop invasive breast cancer (38 taking HRT, 30 not taking HRT); seven more will have heart attacks (37, 30); eight more will have strokes (29, 21); 18 more will develop blood clots in a vein (34, 16); six fewer will develop colorectal cancer (10, 16); and five fewer will suffer hip fractures (10, 15).]]> Hormone Therapy Warning Set http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7401 Fri, 09 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7401
The society suggested women not take combined estrogen-progestin therapy unless they are suffering severe menopausal symptoms that have not responded to any other form of treatment. It recommend trying exercise, relaxation techniques and vitamin E supplements first.

"Our position is that women avoid combination HRT, because of the breast cancer risk," said Heather Logan, director of cancer control policy.

"I believe it's a step beyond where the market is right now."

The definitiveness of that statement worried some clinicians who daily face the confusion that has swirled around the issue since July 2002, when a large, long-term U.S. study of HRT was ended early because it became clear the risks of the drugs outweighed the benefits.

"Women are going nuts, they really are," said Dr. Sandy Messner, medical co-ordinator of the clinical breast cancer prevention services at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

"I have so many patients who really should be on hormones who are terrified to take it now because of all this media stuff."

An official with the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists cautioned there is no cut-and-dried rule when it comes to HRT.

"The Canadian Cancer Society does not address the fact that it's not a black and white situation of 'you take' or 'you don't take,' " said Dr. Vyta Senikas, associate executive vice-president of the organization, which advises that short-term use under four years of hormones is safe and effective for the relief of menopausal symptoms.

"At the end of the day it's the patient who uses the product. It's the patient who has to make up her mind."

For years, combined HRT was commonly prescribed to women with an intact uterus not just for the relief of menopausal symptoms, but on the assumption it slowed other irritants of aging, and protected against heart disease, osteoporosis and dementia.

But all that changed with the release of the first data from the Women's Health Initiative. The study, which was to continue until 2005, was halted when it became clear that not only did HRT raise the risk of breast cancer which had been known but it also increased the risk of heart attack, stroke and blood clots.

A second arm of the study looking at estrogen-only HRT given only to women who have undergone a hysterectomy continues. It is scheduled to conclude in 2005.

None of the findings from the combined therapy arm can be applied to estrogen-only HRT, but nonetheless even women on this form of the drug are expressing reservations about hormone replacement, Messner said.

"All women are becoming afraid to use it."

Messner has no problem with the idea that women should try other options. But she believes that for women suffering severe symptoms of menopause, combined HRT in the smallest dose possible makes a huge difference to quality of life.

"You should avoid it unless you have a good reason to take it. But I think what happens is people stop at the 'you should avoid it' part (of the message) and they don't think anymore about there being good reasons to take it," she said.

"It's the best thing we have to treat symptoms."

The cancer society said its advice was based on the admittedly small but real increased risk that women on HRT will develop breast cancer. ]]> Cancer Society Issues Hormone Therapy Warning http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7402 Fri, 09 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7402
The warning is meant to clarify confusing messages about the risks and benefits of the therapy, which has come under intense scrutiny since a massive U.S. study found the drugs can actually increase the risk of stroke, heart attack and breast cancer.

"The strength of the evidence now is very compelling and the (Women's Health Initiative) trial is a very strong, very carefully thought-out study. Women need to know the risks and benefits so they can carefully consider them," said Heather Logan, director of cancer control policy for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Although the results of the WHI trial were released in the summer of 2002 when the study was suddenly halted as researchers realized the seriousness of their findings Logan said the society waited to issue a policy directive until they had thoroughly sorted through all the studies surrounding HRT.

"We've been following those journals and publications very carefully and have been reviewing them on an on-going basis and they're really strengthening the initial message that the risks outweigh the benefits," she said.

A recent U.S. study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the number of women using combination hormone therapy had plummeted by half since the WHI findings were announced in 2002.

Some doctors said this kind of statement from the Canadian Cancer Society keeps women who need drug therapy from seeking treatment.

"I have so many patients who really should be on hormones who are terrified to take it now because of all this media stuff," said Dr. Sandy Messner, medical co-ordinator of breast cancer prevention services at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre.

However, Logan said the warning shouldn't be seen as black and white, but should lead to a discussion between a woman and her doctor about what's really right for her based on the medical evidence.

"We hope that (the policy initiative) carries the right amount of weight so that women make the right decision, so that they're informed," Logan said.

The WHI study followed 16,000 post-menopausal women taking hormone replacement therapy.

It found that a woman's risk of breast cancer increases after using combination HRT for more than four years. There was no significant increase of breast cancer risk for women taking HRT less than four years.

A clinical trial involving estrogen-only therapy is still ongoing and expected to report in 2005.]]> Premphase HRT Side Effects Lawsuit http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/premphase Fri, 09 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/premphase DOWNLOAD OUR PREMPHASE INFORMATION PACKAGE

Injured by Premphase?

Premphase (Generic: Conjugated estrogens and Medroxyprogesterone acetate) has been linked to the following side effects: dementia, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, blood clots, pulmonary embolisms, lupus and breast cancer. Premphase is a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prescribed for menopause symptoms.

Approximately 6 million women are taking Prempro to treat post-menopausal hot flashes and other menopause symptoms. However, a recent major study concludes that long-term use of Prempro is dangerous and significantly increases the risk of stroke, blood clots, heart attacks and breast cancer. These results were discovered in the nation's biggest hormone replacement study and were so alarming that the National Institute of Health (NIH) prematurely canceled the study, citing risk to the study's participants. As a result, the study is suggesting that many of the women who use Prempro and other estrogen and progestin combinations should quit taking the medications and talk to their doctors about alternatives.

The evidence is clear that Prempro and other estrogen progestin combinations can harm perfectly healthy women. Women taking Prempro have a 29% higher risk of heart attack, 41% higher risk of stroke and a 26% higher risk of breast cancer. Another study released on May 27, 2003 about the health risks of hormone replacement therapy concluded that the medications can double the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Premphase, Premarin and Prempro are manufactured by Wyeth and accounted for about $890 million of the company's $13.9 billion in sales in 2001.

If you or a loved one took Premphase and suffered side effects, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified drug side effects attorney.]]>