Hormone Therapy Industry
  Drug Companies Involved
  Hormones and a History of Harm: DES and Uterine Cancer
  Combined Therapy Causes Disease
Hormones and a History of Harm: DES and Uterine Cancer

The history of hormone therapy in women contains numerous red flags that should have cautioned drug companies against the widespread use of these therapies, without adequate testing. Unnecessary injury associated with the use of these therapies is the rule, not the exception. Two examples are the use of DES and uterine cancer.

Birth Defects

A stampede of pharmaceutical companies sought to market Synthetic Estrogen or “DES”. In their haste for profits, none of the pharmaceutical giants paused to question the safety or benefit of this drug. By 1947, the FDA approved DES for the treatment of miscarriages even though no testing had been performed. This form of synthetic estrogen stayed on the market for this purpose until 1971 and was given to millions of pregnant women. Tragically, mothers who took DES had a 40% to 50% increased chance of breast cancer. It also caused multiple birth defects and other injuries, as explained below:

DES sons may have lowered sperm counts; sterility; increased risk of testicular cancer; missing, small, or undescended testicles; cysts; and abnormally small penises, as well as a higher than average risk of depression.

DES daughters are the best-known victims of the drug. Among them, their mothers' DES use has been linked to immune system disorders, bone loss, and breast cancer. In addition, DES daughters have been shown to have suffered from cervical dysplasia, a potentially pre-cancerous condition; adenosis, a "pre-cancerous cell change"; a cancer known as clear cell adenocarcinoma (found in approximately one of every one thousand DES daughters); a T-shaped uterus; a small, hooded, or incompetent cervix; and an increased risk of miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. These reproductive system malformations often result in difficulties conceiving and carrying children to term and contribute to the injuries in their children...1

 

Uterine Cancer

Unfortunately, the reckless attitude of the drug industry toward hormones did not end with DES. The use of “unopposed” estrogen (Wyeth’s best seller being Premarin®) also resulted in an epidemic of endometrial cancer.

The following Figure 12 shows the annual number of estrogen prescriptions to women ages 50-74 in a sample area when compared to the number of new cases of endometrial cancer. As the prescription rate for estrogen fell, so did the incidence of cancer.

FIGURE 1

By the 1980’s, the increased risk of endometrial cancer from "exogenous estrogen," (like Wyeth’s best seller, Premarin®) had become obvious. Studies consistently found that the long term use of estrogen increased the chances of cancer at least three times or perhaps more.3

 

1See generally “DES Third-Generation Liability: A Proximate Cause,” 18 Cardozo L. Rev. 1217, 1220-21 (1996)1221. (Authority and footnotes deleted.)

2Donald F. Austin, M.D., MPH and Kathleen M. Roe, MPH, The Decreasing Incidence of Endometrial Cancer: Public Health Implications, 72 American Journal of Public Health, No. 1 (January, 1982).

3See, e.g., Hulka, B.S., et al.., Estrogen and Endometrial Cancer: Cases and Two Control Groups from North Carolina, 137 Am. J. Obstet. Gyneocol. 92 (May, 1980) (relative risks were as high as 4.1 for estrogen taken more than 3 ½ years); See also Jelovek, F.R., et al, Risk of Exogeenous Estrogen Therapy and Endometrial Cancer, 137 Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 85 (May, 1980).

 
Injuries Caused By Hormone Therapy:
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