Warning: Hormone Therapy Linked with Elevated Risk of Dangerous Disease

Between 20 and 50 percent of women between the ages of 45 and 70 have taken or are now taking Hormone Replacement Therapy drugs. In the past they were prescribed to every woman who experienced unpleasant symptoms of menopause. They were even expected to decrease certain health risks. Chances are if someone took HRT medication, they assumed that drug companies like Wyeth had tested the safety of the medications. Thousands of women were led to believe that these drugs were not only safe, but that they provided health benefits.

On July 9, 2002, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revealed that it was abruptly halting the use of Wyeth's Prempro in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study because of unacceptable risks associated with taking the drug. Letters were sent to study participants urging them to stop taking the drugs because they led to an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.

The Women's Health Initiative was a $700 million, eight-year, publicly-funded study of Hormone Replacement Therapy. It was intended to study the benefits of hormone replacement and hoped to find that drugs like Prempro and Premarin helped in the prevention of heart disease, breast and colon cancer, and osteoporosis. Instead, the risks associated with these drugs outweighed any benefits found and led to the immediate halting of the study. The findings were so shocking that the study was stopped with almost three years left to go.

The Women's Health Initiative Study showed that combined HRT (estrogen +progestin) such as Prempro, and for some illnesses, estrogen-only formulations, such as Premarin, increase the risk of the following diseases and disorders:

Breast Cancer

Coronary Heart Disease

Stroke

Blood clots/deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Ovarian Cancer

Dementia

Scleroderma

Lupus

The most common HRT drugs are manufactured by Wyeth and include Prempro, Premarin and Premphase. Others HRT drugs include:

* Activella

* Amen

* Aygestin

* Climara

* Crinone

* CombiPatch

* Curretab Cyrin

* Depo-Provera

* Estinyl

* Estrace

* Estraderm

* Estratab

* Estartest

* Estropipate

* Gesterol 50

* Gesterol LA 250

* Hy/Gertrone

* Hylutin

* Megace

* Ogen

* Premelle

* Premique

* Premphase

* Provelle 28

* Prodrox

* Prometrium

* Pro-Span

* Provera

* And other generic versions of estrogen and progestin (MPA)

If you or a family member were prescribed hormone therapy and suffer from breast cancer, ovarian or uterine cancers, stroke, heart disease, Lupus or Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact us today.