Bio identical hormone therapy is not something new; it has been around for thousands of years. The first bio identical hormone therapy was first used by aging women of nobility in Ancient China. During that time, bio identical hormones where not manufactured from plant extracts but rather from young women’s urine. It was believed that young women’s urine contained metabolic waste products of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.
in 1930's, medications where given to patients using painful oil-based injections in order to inhibit the breakdown of their molecular structure.
Bio identical hormones, as we know it today became available only in the 1930′s. These medications where given to patients using painful oil-based injections in order to inhibit the breakdown of their molecular structure. According to pharmaceutical companies, there was no available technology at that time to prescribe bio identical hormones painlessly so they developed synthetic hormones as an alternative. Unfortunately, the outcome was significantly different from the original.
The first ever synthetic hormone to be developed and sold was oral conjugated equine estrogen (CEE). With the use of mass marketing, this medication became very popular among menopausal women until the mid-1970s. In the 1970s, though, a study came out associating the use of estrogen-only synthetic hormones to endometrial cancer. At his point the popularity of the drug took a big plunge and many women stopped taking their medications. Scientists found, however, that endometrial cancer did not occur in women under estrogen-only synthetics whose ovaries where still producing progesterone. Pharmaceutical companies, then, wasted no time and grabbed this opportunity. It was in the 1980s that progestins (synthetic progesterones) were developed pharmaceutical companies and commercially sold in the market.
It was also in the 1980s that transdermal methods of bio identical hormone therapy were finally introduced in the market. This was a breakthrough in the medical field was, however, was kept silent for a long time. Since physicians and affiliated health professionals were not educated in this line of therapy, many of them refrained from prescribing it to their patients unless their patients specifically asked for it.
In the year 2002 the Women’s Health Initiative published a study stating that the use of Premarin (a synthetic estrogen brand) manufactured by Wyeth could increased the incidence of heart attacks, stroke and certain types of cancers. The extensive talk about this incident caused a whole lot of confusion among the millions of women prescribed to the drug. Acting responsibly, doctors were recommended to stop writing prescriptions for Premarin and Provera (both Wyeth brands) but these medications were never removed from the market.
"The Sexy Years" by Suzanne Somers
In 2004, Suzanne Somers published the book “The Sexy Years,” which brought to the attention of the public the option and benefits of bio identical hormone therapy. This book became instantly popular and many women became interested in this form of treatment. By 2005, bio identical hormone therapy finally reached millions.
The pharmaceutical company, Wyeth, was not happy about this. That year alone, they lost billions of dollars as sales revenue for Premarin and Provera. In an attempt to retaliate, the company petitioned the FDA (under a Citizens’ Petition) asking that regulations be adopted and federal supervision be required for compounding pharmacies that produced bio identical hormone preparations. Side by side with that petition, an information dissemination campaign was launched promoting the use of Premarin as well as the discrediting of bio identical hormone therapy over the internet.
The propaganda, apparently, didn’t work to Wyeth’s advantage. Instead, millions of women became more interested in bio identical hormone replacement therapy and many wrote to the FDA asking for the Wyeth petition to be rejected, with a plea to keep bio identical hormones therapy available to them.
Wyeth’s struggle, however, was not to end here. In 2006, the AMA, an organization financed by Wyeth, passed a resolution in support of Wyeth’s petition to the FDA. This, nevertheless, also proved futile. That same year, the United Sates Congress summarily rejected the FDA’s submitted regulation as requested by Wyeth.
The battle did not end here. To this day, Wyeth is still struggling to win back it’s throne. For many women, however, this serves as a lesson learnt: knowing and understanding their medications and arming themselves with information is always the best preventive measure. Not everything sold in the market is good, no matter what the advertisers say. If they say it’s good, there is obviously something better.
