Menopause “Discovered”
1686: Fourteen “witches” are executed at Salem – thirteen of them are menopausal women.
1821: A French physician named de Gardanne coins the term “menopause” a century prior to the isolation of the hormone estrogen and publishes a book “De la ménopause, ou de l’âge critique des femmes”. Thus begins the search for the “cure”.
1872: Menopausal women are considered mentally deranged and are classified by Lawson Tait, an influential physician and surgeon of London, as having incurable dementia. In his opinion relief can be achieved by the use of “an occasional purgative” and “removal from home at frequent intervals” – the asylum!
1890: Merck suggests that menopausal symptoms can be treated with wine, cannabis, opium, and a product made out of powered ovaries, among others.
1899: An idea was emerging that sex hormones might be involved in menopause. A Parisian woman medicates herself with liquids derived from pigs’ ovaries with positive effects.
1929: Estrogen is isolated and identified by Edward Doisy at Washington University in St. Louis.
Premarin® –The “Cure”?
1930: Water soluble estrogens are discovered in pregnant mares’ urine by a German doctor, Bernhard Zondek. Other researchers reveal that decomposed and hydrolyzed pregnant mare’s urine contain estradiol.
1933: The first estrogen replacement product marketed in the US is developed – Emmenin, a product made from the urine of pregnant women. However, it is costly and the search continues for a cheap alternative.
1942: Wyeth’s predecessor Ayerst receives approval for the patent of Premarin, formulated from the urine of pregnant mares, and is approved by the FDA to market. Initial approval was based on a “replacement” therapy to “replace” a woman’s depleted estrogen levels.
1943: Wyeth merges with Ayerst, McKenna and Harrison, Ltd. Of Canada. With this came Premarin®, the world’s first conjugated estrogen medicine.
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology publishes four independent studies of Premarin® use in five US cities praising its ease of use and effective relief of symptoms.
1965: The growth in use of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) and the HRT concept is supported by a book written by Dr. Robert Wilson titled “Feminine Forever”. Unbeknownst to the general public, he is a consultant for Wyeth.
1972: The FDA publishes a Federal Register notice indicating that estrogen products including Premarin® are effective in treating menopausal symptoms. At the same time, the FDA provides for submission and approval of abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) for generic conjugated estrogens.
1973: The belief that estrogen was beneficial for the heart in women led to a trial in which men took Premarin® for the prevention of heart attacks and strokes. The trial was abruptly halted since the men receiving the treatments had increased incidences of heart attacks and blood clots. Instead of a wakeup call to the deleterious side effects, they simply attributed this to dosage issues and continued to praise the drug for its use in relieving menopausal symptoms in women.
1975: The New England Journal of Medicine publishes two articles that indicate a four to fourteen times increased risk of endometrial cancer with post-menopausal use of ERT.
1976: Ayerst sends a “Dear Doctor” letter to every physician in the country regarding the use of Premarin®. The FDA reprimands the letter maintaining it is misleading and minimizes the risk of the association of CEEs and uterine cancer. In turn, the FDA issues a drug bulletin underscoring the increased risk of uterine cancer with prolonged use of estrogen products.
The New England Journal of Medicine publishes the first report of a link between estrogen use and breast cancer.
1977: Ayerst Laboratories Premarin® is definitively linked to uterine cancer. Ayerst responds by adding a warning to the label but Hill and Knowlton, a public relations firm, simply attribute the cancer risk a “public relations” issue.
Premarin® becomes the fifth most frequently prescribed drug in the US with more than 30 million prescriptions written.
1980s: Several smaller companies offer a generic form of Premarin®.
1982: Cancer research journals report that CEE menopausal hormones are a major factor in the development of cancer indications.
1989: A Swedish study indicates that women on a regimen of estrogen or estrogen-progestin had a slightly increased risk of breast cancer when on estrogen yet when on the combined drug therapy their risk more than doubled (New England Journal of medicine).
1990s: Premarin® becomes the most frequently dispensed drug in the US.
1991: The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) is launched. The clinical trials were designed to test the effects of postmenopausal hormone therapy, diet modification, and calcium and vitamin D supplements on heart disease, fractures, and breast and colorectal cancer.
1995: Prempro® is the first estrogen-progestin HRT drug approved by the FDA
NAERIC (North American Equine Ranching Council) is established. An organization engaged in the collection of pregnant mares urine (PMU) that reportedly is dedicated to the progressive science-based horse management techniques to ensure the highest possible care standards are utilized in the equine ranching industry.
NAERIC is heavily funded by Wyeth and supports horse slaughter.
1997: Premarin® becomes Wyeth-Ayerst’s first brand to reach $1 billion in sales.
The FDA rejects an application for a generic version of the drug Premarin®. Both the FDA and Wyeth-Ayerst want the public to believe it was in their best interest to protect and safeguard the public. In reality it was motivated by scores of lobbyists, fraught with conflicts of interest, and epitomized by questionable surreptitious political manipulation.
Data from 51 epidemiological studies is published in The Lancet (a UK medical journal) further implicating an increased risk of breast cancer with post-menopausal estrogen use.
1998: The first major placebo controlled trial of HRT indicates no benefit to women who have had heart attacks, in fact, increasing their risk and advises them to withdraw.
2001: First results of the WHI study are released spreading bad news to not only doctor’s offices but also Wall Street. Although physicians remained ambiguous about the results of increased cancer risk and heart attacks, shares of Wyeth fell 19%. The company responded by emphasizing it was the combination therapy of estrogen-progestin Prempro® and not Premarin® that was at fault.
2002: Barr Laboratories suffers at the hands of Wyeth. A Minnesota Federal judge finds that Barr misappropriated trade secrets thereby protecting Wyeth’s lucrative monopoly of Premarin®.
Government scientists abruptly end the WHI HRT study – the nation’s largest – which states that long-term use of estrogen and progestin significantly increases women’s risk of breast cancer, strokes and heart attacks.
After the government’s announcement, millions of women discontinue the use of HRT – down from about 6 million users for Prempro® to 3.3 million.
FDA announces it will more thoroughly evaluate HRT use – the first official response from the government.
Prempro®’s sales plummet 32% for 2002.
2003: Further studies indicate there were increased incidences of cardiovascular events, and breast cancer in women taking the combination therapy drug Prempro®.
FDA orders that both medications – Premarin® and Prempro® – carry warning labels advising users of the increased risk of heart disease, stroke, breast cancer, pulmonary embolisms and blood clots.
Additional results from the NIH study indicate that HRT contributes to dementia.
Media reports escalate the public awareness of the sequestered pregnant mares and slaughtered foals – the “by-products” of the PMU industry.
2004: As a result of falling sales of Premarin® and Prempro®, Wyeth introduces a lower dosage estrogen-progestin drug claiming it is safe.
The estrogen-only (Premarin®) division of the WHI study continues to 2004 but it also is terminated prematurely due to indications of increased risk of stroke, deep vein thrombosis and without benefit in terms of coronary heart disease.
Sales of Premarin® and Prempro® freefall from $1.3 billion in 2002 to $880 million in 2004.
2005: Wyeth closes a manufacturing plant and eliminates 15% of its sales force as sales of Prempro® falls 76% and Premarin® 47%.
Wyeth asks the FDA to investigate independent pharmacies producing bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) claiming there are potential risks to women’s health and possible violations of manufacturing practices. In October of 2005, Wyeth files a “Citizen’s Petition” demanding the ban of bio-identical hormones which coincidentally compete with their synthetic hormones.
2007: Numerous cancellations of contracts for the Premarin® family of drugs results in herd reductions on PMU farms.
A report in The Lancet found that HRT increases the risk of ovarian cancer by 20%.
FDA declines to approve Pristiq – a non-hormonal drug for menopausal symptoms produced by Wyeth – without further testing due to some indications that the drug causes serious heart and liver complications.
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.”
2008: Wyeth announces that it plans to meet with the FDA in February to discuss product formulation, bioequivalence and clinical study efforts to support the planned NDA filing of Aprela – a new drug containing CEEs for menopausal symptoms and a selective estrogen receptor modulator, for the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis.
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Tuesday's Horse 
I wonder if the men would be so excited about using Premarin cream if required to apply it to their “manhood”? And what about having intercourse with women who use it? Any risks?
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Men are far too vain. They can always make babies, and women cannot. That is the ONLY thing they have over us! Their seemingly unlimited ability to procreate. Of course there have been no studies on men to see if HRT is damaging to them. They ban them when they use HRT in sports! And that is all.
Elle
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It is a dichotomist (probably not a word but aptly descriptive) world and one that seems never to go away. Despite the advances women have managed to secure in this male dominated existence as we know it, we are still observed as the lower of the species it seems.
This whole HRT related “medicine/voodoo science” thing continues to plague us. I continue to ask why women still support this. Is it ignorance? Manipulation by an out-of-control male dominance syndrome afflicting the female psyche? Insecurities imposed by false beliefs and societal pressure? Vanity? Or just plain stupidity?
WHY ARE WOMEN STILL TAKING THESE MEDICATIONS? THEY ARE CARCINOGENS!
Wake up and smell the coffee. Life is more important than preserving youth and beauty. Grow old with dignity for God;s sake. Relief of menopausal symptoms does not require horse pee; cancer and death, there are effective natural alternatives.
Sorry to vent but really……
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Absolutely, Jane. It defies logic AND decency, not only because it takes a simple (well, sometimes maybe NOT so simple) biological function and first renders it a ‘disease’ or ‘disorder’, then veers off into the ridiculous (really: feeding decomposed and hydrated horse’s urine into a human body. This just makes my eyes cross…). It has been proven beyond a doubt, over and over again, that this ‘treatment’ KILLS – women AND mares AND foals. I cannot tell you how large the can of Whoop Ass that would be unleashed upon the hapless practitioner who prescribed this noxious potion to one of MY daughters.
Don’t medical practitioners have to recite that pithy little phrase upon completion of their transition into society? Something about “First, Do No Harm”? Maybe there’s a little adendum or amendment in the fine print which makes exceptions for women in ratio to pharmaceutical companies…
When my time comes, and if I’m allowed to stand before the Creator, I’m gonna ask – with all the blessings laid upon and within the female of our species, what the hell is up with pre-menstrual syndrome and menopause??? (Though I’m in no hurry for the answer.)
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It was not that long ago that women were totally perceived as man’s property to do with what he would. Hence marital law is based on property law; it has absolutely nothing to do with love, romance or any of the issues one first thinks of when two people unite for life.
Insofar as the drugs and menopausal symptoms, people in our society have become pampered to the point they expect to have no physical discomforts and look to a pill to relieve them of it. They care little where it comes from. Most also seem oblivious to the fact that the side effects they can experience from far too many of these medications are often far worse than what they are taking them to treat!
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There are some states that still have this law on the books! They never removed it, and we STILL do not have EQUAL RIGHTS!
It is moronic.
Elle
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Uglier than sin and it keeps on coming…..
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My mother is a BSN and she is retired. She STILL glorifies doctors of any kind. We do not argue about HRT she knows where it comes from, and that it is a form of femicide. Years ago, when all doctors were men, the Nurses were fearful of standing up to them, however, that is no longer the case. My younger sister stroked at the age of 35. She has had several brain surgeries, surgery on her right arm and leg, and the surgeon who performed her hand surgery should have been sued as the hand was casted incorrectly and the hand is in the form of a claw.
Beth and I wanted to go after this guy as he made her worse. Mom said no. I told my mother we had all the evidence we needed for a Malpractice Lawsuit and that Beth has some cash and she could sue for damages and court and attorney fees. Mother was concerned about his family! It is impossible to argue with her. BTW, my sister got her BSN at Johns-Hopkins and was going for her Masters at the University of PA when she had her stroke, so she knows more about Nursing than my mother does.
Historically, men have sublimated their fear of females by calling us crazy, sending us to Asylums, and all the rest. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote a book entitled ‘Herland’ in the early 1930’s. I was amazed that she got the book published. I have a copy but I think it is now out of print. ‘Herland’ basically bashes the Male gender and these women live very happily without men.
There are MORE women on the Planet than there are men. Do you know that we still do not have ‘Equal Rights’? That Amendment failed in the early 1970’s. I say it is time to bring it back.
Elle
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Reading all of the data in this phenomenal report leaves me feeling defeated.
Elle
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I agree completely Lisa. It is absolutely diabolical. Even that does not seem a strong enough word, does it?
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I have a deep respect for your website, Vivian. I find – when the urge to comment on articles of this nature is upon me – more often than not, I have to edit and re-edit for content, victimizing my poor, dear keyboard (from the pounding of my outraged fingers) in the process and straining my frazzled little brain to find suitable adjectives in lieu of liberal applications of filth.
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We feel your outrage Lisa on the way some people perceive animals, in our case horses, and what they feel is their right to do with them. The disrespect is enormous and the only way out of it is to influence their thinking for the better if we can.
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Got an idea: For all those ‘physicians’ who prescribe HRT, a challenge: You First. Find me a male doctor willing to take this crap or rub it into HIS skin (or for that matter, a woman) then we’ll see about ‘efficacy’.
Or how’s about this? All those corporate pirates, skittering around expending so much time, effort, money and power to justify this junk? Let THEM enjoy a protracted course, and reap the ‘benefits’.
Another idea: Let’s see how we can go about informing the other women we occupy this planet with and letting THEM know what a huge corporate crock o’ crap Wy-Zer Pharmaceuticals is.
How morally corrupt and ethically bereft does a group of people have to be to knowingly perpetuate the deaths of 10’s of thousands of women, mares and their offspring under the guise of ‘better’? Billions in profits? ARGHHH. It stuns the sensibilities, doesn’t it?
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