By using a compounding pharmacy, your doctor can have your medication custom-made for you. A compounding pharmacist can eliminate allergens specific to you, put hormones into a cream form to make them safer, and make your medication fit your lifestyle. Do you travel a lot? Maybe you would prefer your progesterone to be in a capsule. Are you prone to blood clots? An estrogen cream would be a much safer alternative for you. Allergic to peanuts? A compounding pharmacy can create a progesterone capsule that is a safe alternative to Prometrium for you. There are many great reasons to use a compounding pharmacy-why is the FDA cracking down on them?

First, a little history lesson. In 1942, a drug called Premarin was first marketed for menopausal symptoms. It received FDA certification in 1972. When Wyeth’s (the company that manufactures Premarin) patent expired, several smaller companies created generic, cheaper versions. In 1990’s, Wyeth succeeded in having the generic versions of Premarin taken off the market. Wyeth proposed that the generic versions were unsafe because they were faster-acting. Incidently, Wyeth was selling it’s own fast-acting version of Premarin in Canada at the time.

In 2002 and 2004, findings were released from the Women’s Health Initiative study that showed risk of venous thrombosis was doubled with estrogen/progestin combinations (PremPro, a sister drug of Premarin), and an increased risk of ovarian cancer. Women everywhere panicked and went off their hormones. Wyeth lost $1 billion in net revenue from Premarin and PremPro the very next year. Women started feeling menopausal symptoms again after stopping their medications and started searching for safer alternatives. Many women and physicians turned to bio-identical hormones. Citing studies that showed estrogen is safer applied to the skin, rather than in a pill, physicians started prescribing compounded hormone creams. Micronized progesterone was found to be much safer than the synthetic progestin found in PremPro and could be compounded into a cream or capsule.

In 2005, Wyeth petitioned the FDA to “initiate enforcement actions” against the compounding pharmacies. After that was denied, Wyeth went public and told consumers that the compounding pharmacies were unsafe. They initiated an educational campaign that told half the story to frightened consumers. The FDA then reversed their decision and compromised on a limited crack-down on compounding pharmacies, concentrating on the dispensing of estriol.

Estriol is the most gentle estrogen produced by the body. It is the main estrogen released by the placenta during pregnancy and is thought by many experts to be protective against high levels of estradiol. It is a US Pharmacopeia ingredient and is perfectly legal to compound. Compounding pharmacies are heavily regulated by state boards of pharmacy already, the FDA exists to regulate mass manufactured products. Estriol is often mixed with estradiol to make a compounded cream that is the top competitor of Premarin. The FDA has stated that estriol is not FDA approved and that it has not been proven to be safe. They do note, however, that “there was no reason to believe that the risks of compounded estrogens and progestins would be any different that the risk reported for FDA-approved hormone replacement drugs.” (Dr. Kathleen Uhl, FDA’s Office of Women’s Health)

Still wondering why the FDA is going after compounding pharmacies? Steve Silverman of the FDA’s Office of Compliance stated that this latest action (in 2008) was “solely in response to a 2005 citizen’s petition from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which asked the FDA to crack down on the hormone replacement products marketed by compounding pharmacies.” The same Wyeth Pharmaceuticals that lost over $1 billion/year to compounding pharmacies.

Speak to your doctor about all the options available to you, not just the ones with glossy magazine ads. Together you can create a plan to keep you healthy and symptom-free.

discount cialis soft

levitra

generic propecia

discount viagra soft

generic propecia

levitra

generic propecia
http://lauren.droner.org/wordpress/wp-content/themes/default/propecia/map.html

levitra

http://www.daniel-lemire.com/blog/wp-admin/furosemide/map.html

levitra