Hormone Blockers Are Very Dangerous Drugs
Providing transgendered children “puberty blockers” is currently one of the most controversial areas in medicine. Remarkably, little knowledge exists about the safety of these drugs (e.g., when I’ve asked liberal colleagues who support these drugs if they were aware of their dangers, they genuinely shared that they were not aware the drugs had any clinically significant side effects).
Given that hormonal blockers are amongst the most dangerous drugs on the market, I feel it is essential to bring light to the people who they have harmed, and the scandalous 40-year saga that has allowed them to be unjustifiably used for a wide range of medical conditions.
How Hormonal Blockers Work
There are various ways you can block the production of hormones in the body. Since the signal to produce sex hormones (e.g., estrogen and testosterone) begins in the brain, cutting that signal off mainly eliminates the body’s production of hormones. The most potent hormonal blockers, the GnRH agonists, work by overstimulating the brain’s GnRH receptors so that they become “burned out” and no longer respond to the natural release of GnRH in the body, thereby short-circuiting the body’s production of sex hormones (which in many cases is a permanent deactivation).
Note: A variety of different GnRH over-activators are sold, with Lupron, Vantas and Supprelin being the most widely used. Additionally, various drugs, such as Orilissa, instead function by directly blocking the GnRH receptor. Henceforth, I will focus on Lupron.
Testosterone, known to fuel prostate cancer growth, prompted extensive research into reducing its levels. Initially, countering testosterone with an estrogen analog called DES was promising. However, DES was withdrawn due to its severe adverse effects, which included harms to both the children and grandchildren of mothers who took it.
In 1984, a study compared Lupron (which chemically castrates males) to DES for advanced (likely fatal) prostate cancer, finding similar side effects and a slight increase in survival rates. This led to Lupron being approved as an alternative treatment for advanced prostate cancer despite FDA concerns about the study’s flaws and an incomplete understanding of Lupron’s metabolism.
Since that time, a myriad of additional dangers from the drug (e.g., an increase in fatal heart attacks or diabetes) have been uncovered, some of which suggest its reduction in prostate cancer deaths were due to it killing them from something else first.
Over time, Lupron’s usage has broadened beyond advanced prostate cancer to encompass various conditions, including advanced breast cancer, endometriosis, and fibroid pretreatment before surgery. Moreover, its off-label applications have proliferated, ranging from managing gynecological issues to assisting in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) protocols and chemical castration for sex offenders.
Hence, while these drugs were initially developed for men (i.e., prostate cancer), they are frequently given off-label to women. This, for example is why Lupron’s FDA insert states its only indication is for the palliative treatment of advanced prostate cancer, but it simultaneously warns against pregnant women taking it (even though it’s also used for egg harvesting)
In turn, despite having been on the market for decades, there is very little evidence to show these drugs actually benefit those who take them.
This hence raises the question—why on earth are these drugs so popular?
Selling Lupron
Lupron’s manufacturer faced a rather significant challenge—how could they get doctors to begin prescribing a hazardous and ineffective drug? They accomplished this through one of the most overt acts of physician bribery I’ve seen in American medicine.
Initially facing sluggish sales, Lupron’s manufacturer found a loophole in chemotherapy drug pricing, reformulating Lupron into a long-acting monthly shot for direct administration by urologists. This move allowed them to profit from marked-up prices, exploiting Medicare payments that soared to $1,200 per shot. Bribes and free samples were handed out to urologists to sweeten the deal, though this illegal practice eventually led to an $875 million fine.
The drug’s profitability enticed American urologists to adopt Lupron for increasingly benign prostate cancers, resulting in treatments costing nearly a billion dollars annually by the late 1990s. Medicare payments accounted for 40% of urology practices’ income. Medicare’s intervention in 2001 and 2003 led to reimbursement cuts, curbing Lupron’
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
