Prempro, Estrogen/Progestin News

October was National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we should have been talking about how birth control drugs can double, or triple a woman's risk of developing breast cancer if she is over 40 and has been on a pill, worn a patch or had an injection for five, 10 or 20 years or more.

Effective Jan. 1, UTU members taking certain brand-name drugs will be required to pay more for them unless they switch to generic or preferred versions.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has upheld Arkansas district court decisions in a products liability case against pharmaceutical companies that are the makers of hormone therapy drugs that, combined, have been linked to breast cancer.

Abstract Women outlive men, but life expectancy is not influenced by hormone replacement therapy.

A federal appeals court says Wyeth Pharmaceuticals will get a new trial to determine if the drugmaker should pay punitive damages to a woman who got breast cancer after taking hormone replacement therapy.

After several years of delays, hormone-replacement litigation is moving forward, with one trial completed in Philadelphia and a second under way.

Audiologist Elizabeth Alsgaard spent about $1,000 for saliva tests, hormone creams and custom-compounded hormone pills the doctor prescribed.

A Philadelphia jury awarded punitive damages yesterday in Connie Barton's case over the Prempro hormone replacement therapy marketed by Wyeth.

A Pfizer Inc. unit must pay an undisclosed amount of punitive damages to an Illinois woman who developed breast cancer after taking one of the drugmakera s menopause treatments, a Philadelphia jury said yesterday.

MARYCLAIRE DALE PHILADELPHIA a ' A Philadelphia jury is weighing punitive damages against drugmaker Wyeth after finding a link between an Illinois woman's breast cancer and the hormone-replacement drug she took.

"Pfizer Unit Must Pay Prempro Damages, Jury Concludes": Bloomberg News has a report that begins, "A Pfizer Inc.

What to do if menopause makes you miserable? Start with a visit to your doctor. If you don't have one you really trust, fix that problem before you try to tackle the rest, women's health experts recommend.

After a run of mostly bad news for hormones, new research suggests an estrogen-progesterone combination can significantly increase sexual thoughts and sexual interest in younger, post-menopausal women.

Women who develop breast tenderness for the first time while on hormone replacement therapy may be at increased risk of invasive breast cancer, new research shows.

Fear of developing breast cancer - the second most common cause of all cancer deaths in women - tops the list of health concerns for many women.

Postmenopausal women who experience new-onset breast tenderness after starting combination hormone therapy may face increased risk for breast cancer, according to an Archives of Internal Medicine study.

Breast tenderness in women taking estrogen/progestin hormone replacement therapy could signal increased chances of developing breast cancer, a new study says.

Hormone replacement therapy might be beneficial for postmenopausal women at increased heart risk, say researchers.

Dr. Barbieri reports no financial relationships relevant to this Editorial. Heightened controversy over the US Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccine against human papillomavirus has made headlines in the medical literature and across the lay press in past weeks.

Medical journal articles that are peer-reviewed and written by respected physicians appear to be unaffected by pharmaceutical company influence.